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MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Princeton  Monographs  in  Art  and  Archaeology  V 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


BY 

CLARENCE  WARD 


ASSOCIATE  PROFESSOR  OF  ARCHITECTURE,  RUTGERS  COLLEGE 
LECTURER  ON  ARCHITECTURE,  PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
PRINCETON 

LONDON: HUMPHREY  MILFORD 
OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
1915 


Copyright,  1915,  by 
Princeton  University  Press 


Published  November,  1915 


It-it  GETTY  CENTER 
LIBRARY 


To  A.  M. 


WITH  THE  LASTING  AFFECTION  OF  THE  AUTHOR, 
WHO  IS  INDEBTED  TO  HIM  FOR  MUCH  INSPIRATION 


r 


INTRODUCTION 


The  student  of  Mediaeval  architecture,  especially  of  the  Gothic  era, 
finds  perhaps  its  strongest  appeal  in  the  peculiar  structural  character  which 
it  possesses.  Greek  architecture,  even  at  its  best,  strongly  reflects  a pre- 
ceding art  of  building  in  wood.  Roman  architecture,  when  it  does  not 
closely  follow  its  Greek  prototype,  often  depends  upon  a mere  revetment 
or  surface  treatment  for  its  effects,  and  the  Renaissance  builders  in  gen- 
eral followed  this  lead.  Only  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  the  structure  truly 
allowed  to  furnish  its  own  decoration,  and  the  decoration  itself  made 
structural.  And  by  far  the  greatest  single  problem  of  construction  was 
that  of  vaulting.  A knowledge  of  vaulting  is,  therefore,  essential  for  the 
thorough  student  of  Mediaeval  architecture.  On  the  vaulting  system  de- 
pend in  a large  measure  the  shape  of  piers  and  buttresses,  the  size  and 
form  of  windows  and  arches,  and  a host  of  decorative  mouldings  and 
details  which  form  the  complex  whole  of  Mediaeval  construction. 

Inheriting  from  Early  Christian  times  a church  of  well-established 
plan,  the  builders  of  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth  centuries  set  themselves 
the  problem  of  substituting  for  the  wooden  roof  of  this  Early  Christian 
Basilica  a covering  of  masonry  which  would  resist  the  conflagrations  that 
were  among  the  most  destructive  forces  of  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  with 
these  efforts  that  the  following  pages  are  to  deal.  It  has  been  my  purpose 
to  classify  and  to  discuss  in  a systematic  manner  what  has  been  gathered 
from  authorities  here  and  abroad  and  from  a study  of  the  monuments 
themselves. 

Especial  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  the  connection  between  the  vault-  . 
ing  and  lighting  problem.  Some  vaults,  such  as  those  of  six-part  and  five- 
part  form,  are  shown  to  have  probably  derived  this  form  from  the 

vii 


INTRODUCTION 


viii 

clerestory,  while  other  vaults  of  nave,  apse,  and  ambulatory  are  proved  to 
be  very  closely  related  to  the  position  of  the  windows  beneath  them.  In 
the  discussion  of  Romanesque  vaulting,  a number  of  churches  are  sug- 
gested as  forming  a “School  of  the  Loire,”  in  addition  to  the  schools  which 
are  generally  listed.  Suggestions  are  made  regarding  the  form  of  the 
centering  employed  in  Perigord,  and  there  is  a somewhat  extended  account 
of  the  purpose  served  by  the  triforia  of  Auvergne.  In  dealing  with  ribbed 
vaults  the  use  of  caryatid  figures  for  the  support  of  the  ribs,  the  non- 
essential  character  of  the  wall  rib,  the  origin  and  development  of  six-part 
vaulting,  and  the  types  of  chevet  vaults  are  subjects  especially  treated. 
But  these  and  other  novelties  are  all  subordinate  to  the  real  purpose  of 
the  work,  which  is  to  give  in  a compact  and  systematic  form  a thorough 
resume  of  all  the  principal  forms  of  vaulting  employed  in  the  middle  ages. 
For  the  sake  of  this  systematic  treatment  the  different  portions  of  the 
church,  nave  and  aisles,  choir  and  transepts,  apse  and  ambulatory  have 
been  taken  up  in  separate  chapters,  though  in  each  case  there  has  been  an 
effort  to  keep  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  chronological  sequence  of  the 
monuments.  This  matter  of  chronology  has,  in  fact,  led  to  an  effort  to 
date  as  accurately  as  possible  all  the  buildings  mentioned.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  author  has  consulted  many  authorities  and  in  the  case  of  doubtful 
monuments  has  arrived  at  the  dates  given  only  after  an  analysis  of  the 
various  claims  advanced. 

The  illustrations  are  in  large  measure  from  photographs  taken  by  the 
author  or  purchased  in  Europe.  The  following,  however,  are  from  publi- 
cations, Figs.  31,  34  and  39  from  Gurlitt,  Baukunst  in  Frankreich  (J.  Bleyl 
Nacht,  Dresden)  ; Fig.  12  from  Baum,  Romanischc  Baukunst  in  Frankreich 
(Julius  Hoffmann,  Stuttgart)  ; Fig.  38,  from  Bond,  Gothic  Architecture  in 
England  (Batsford,  London),  and  Fig.  63  from  Moore,  The  Mediaeval 
Church  Architecture  of  England  (Macmillan,  New  York).  The  drawings 
are  largely  based  upon  plates  in  Dehio  and  Von  Bezold,  Kirchliche  Baukunst 
ties  Abcndlandcs  (Cotta,  Stuttgart),  supplemented  by  the  author’s  own 


INTRODUCTION 


IX 


notes.  Of  course,  only  a limited  number  of  illustrations  were  possible 
and  for  this  reason  less  well  known  examples,  and  those  not  previously 
published,  were  in  most  cases  chosen.  To  make  it  possible  for  the  reader 
to  supplement  the  illustrative  material  references  are  made  in  the  foot- 
notes to  publications  in  which  reproductions  of  many  of  the  churches 
mentioned  may  be  found.  The  books  chosen  for  reference  have,  where 
possible,  been  those  easily  accessible  to  the  student. 

The  principal  literary  sources  for  the  work  are  listed  in  the  bibliog- 
raphy, though  many  works  not  mentioned  were  also  consulted.  Among  the 
sources  which  proved  most  useful  are  the  works  of  Choisy,  Enlart, 
Lasteyrie,  Rivoira,  Porter  and  Moore,  all  of  which  are  especially  recom- 
mended to  the  student  of  vaulting.  For  personal  assistance  in  the  prepa- 
ration and  subsequent  reading  of  the  work,  the  author  is  much  indebted 
to  Professor  Howard  Crosby  Butler  and  Professor  Frank  Jewett  Mather, 
Jr.,  of  Princeton  University,  but  especially  to  Professor  Allan  Marquand 
of  Princeton,  under  whose  inspiration  and  encouragement  the  work  was 
undertaken. 

Clarence  Ward. 

New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey. 

October,  1915. 


r 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  I.  Nave  and  Aisle  Vaults i 

Chapter  II.  Transept  and  Crossing  Vaults 105 

Chapter  III.  A.pse  Vaults  124 

Chapter  IV.  Ambulatory  Vaults  158 


CHAPTER  I 


NAVE  AND  AISLE  VAULTS 

During  the  Romanesque  period,  or  roughly  speaking,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eleventh  to  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  three  chief  forms 
of  vaulting  were  employed  over  the  naves  and  aisles  of  church  edifices. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  dome,  the  second  the  tunnel  vault,  and  the  third, 
groined  vaulting.  With  the  development  of  the  ribbed  vault,  all  three 
gave  way  to  this  new  method  of  construction,  and  the  Gothic  era  was 
inaugurated. 

Domes  on  Spherical  Pendentives 

The  dome  was  employed  in  two  rather  distinct  ways  according  to  the 
form  of  pendentives  used  for  its  support.  Thus  a number  of  churches 
continue  the  tradition  of  the  spherical  pendentive,  while  in  others  some 
form  of  squinch  or  trumpet  arch  is  found.  Both  methods  are  of  early 
origin,  dating  back,  in  fact,  to  the  Roman  era  preceding  the  reign  of 
Justinian  (483-565)  and  consequently  earlier  than  the  Byzantine  archi- 
tecture of  which  they  are  so  conspicuous  a feature.  Rivoira1  has  shown 
the  existence  of  numerous  spherical  pendentives  of  the  second  century  A.D. 
or  even  earlier,  and  Lasteyrie2  has  added  to  these  a small  cupola  at  Beurey- 
Beauguay  (Cote-d’Or)  in  France  dating  from  the  second  or  third  century. 
But  even  if  this  method  were  known  at  an  early  date  it  was  not  until  the 
Byzantine  era  that  it  obtained  a wide-spread  and  extensive  usage.  During 
the  sixth  century  it  became  the  principal  method  of  vaulting  throughout 
the  Roman  Empire,  and,  as  such,  had  a considerable  influence  upon  Carolin- 
gian  architecture  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  This  is  true  even  in 
France,  for  traces  of  pendentives  were  found  in  1870  during  a restoration 

1 Rivoira  I,  p.  29,  et  seq. ; also  Lasteyrie,  p.  272,  et  seq. 

‘ Lasteyrie,  p.  274,  and  Fig.  268. 


1 


2 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


of  the  church  of  Germigny-des-Pres,3  a fact  of  particular  interest  because 
it  is  in  France  that  the  principal  Romanesque  examples  of  this  method 
are  to  be  seen. 

Domes  on  Squinches 

As  for  the  squinch,  it  may  possibly  be  of  Persian  origin,  but  the  earliest 
examples  thus  far  known  in  Persia  are  to  be  found  in  the  palaces  of 
Firouz  Abad  and  Sarvistan,  which  probably  date  from  the  Sassanian  period 
between  A. D.  226  and  641,  and  are  therefore  of  later  date  than  the  Roman 
examples  of  the  first  and  second  centuries  to  be  found  in  the  Palace  of  the 
Caesars  at  Rome  and  the  Villa  Adriana  at  Tivoli  (cir.  A.D.  138).  What- 
ever its  origin,  the  squinch  in  its  various  forms,  simple  cross  lintel,4  cross 
arch,  trumpet  arch,  niche  head,  etc.,  was  employed  prior  to  and  during  the 
Byzantine  period  along  with  the  spherical  pendentive.  In  fact  a trumpet 
arch  of  domed  up  character  is  found  in  the  Baptistery  of  the  cathedral  of 
Naples5  which  dates  from  the  fifth  century,  while  the  niche  head  or  half 
dome  type,  very  commonly  employed  in  Romanesque  architecture,  has  a 
sixth  century  prototype  in  the  church  of  San  Vitale  at  Ravenna,6  as  well 
as  many  earlier  examples  such  as  those  in  the  Domus  Augustana  (cir. 
A.D.  83), 7 or  the  Thermae  of  Caracalla  (212-216)8  at  Rome.  Other 
types  of  squinches  occasionally  appear  but  they  are  generally  referable  to 
one  of  the  above  mentioned  forms. 

The  School  of  Perigord 

By  far  the  most  important  group  of  Romanesque  churches  employing 
the  dome  on  spherical  pendentives,  is  situated  in  that  portion  of  France 
extending  around  the  city  of  Perigueux,  and  constitutes  what  is  known  as 
the  architectural  school  of  Perigord.  Since  Perigueux  was  a trading  post 
on  the  route  from  Venice  to  the  west,  it  must  have  felt  a good  deal  of 
Byzantine  influence,  and  it  is  the  general  theory  that  to  this  influence  is 
due  the  almost  universal  employment  of  the  dome  on  pendentives  in  the 
churches  of  this  school.  While  this  may  well  be  the  case,  it  is  nevertheless 
to  be  remarked  that  the  dome  as  a method  of  vaulting  seems  to  have  been 

3 Lasteyrie,  p.  270. 

4 Early  ex.,  Umm  es-Zeitun  illustrated  in  Rivoira,  I,  p.  35,  Fig.  31. 

r’  Rivoira,  I,  p.  193,  Fig.  273. 

’ Rivoira,  I,  p.  57,  Fig,  82. 

7 Rivoira,  I,  p.  33,  Fig.  46. 

* ‘Rivoira,  I,  p.  35,  Fig.  50. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


3 


the  only  importation,  its  construction  in  Perigord  differing  in  almost  every 
particular  from  that  of  the  Byzantine  period.  This  might  even  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  Perigord  type  of  dome  was  not  imported,  but  actually 
indigenous  to  this  part  of  France,  a theory  which  has  lately  been  advanced 
by  no  less  an  authority  than  Lasteyrie.9  But  in  any  case,  the  points  of 
difference  in  construction  between  the  domes  of  Byzantine  architecture 
and  those  of  the  school  of  Perigord  are  of  more  importance  in  this  dis- 
cussion of  vaulting,  than  is  the  question  of  their  origin. 

Comparison  of  Perigord  and  Byzantine  Domes 

These  differences  have  been  so  admirably  summed  up  by  Lasteyrie10 
that  a translation  of  his  summary  with  a few  additions  will  perhaps  give 
the  best  possible  account  of  them.  They  are  grouped  under  six  chief  heads 
which  may  all  be  studied  by  using  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Front  at  Peri- 
gueux  (Figs,  i and  2)  as  a model.  First,  the  French  pendentives  are 


Fig.  i. — Perigueux,  Cathedral. 


9 Lasteyrie,  p.  465  et  seq. 

10  Lasteyrie,  p.  470. 


4 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


borne  on  pointed  instead  of  semicircular  arches;  second,  the  surface  of  the 
pendentive  at  Saint  Front  rises  from  the  intrados  rather  than  from  the 
extrados  of  the  voussoirs;  third,  the  diagonal  profile  of  the  French  penden- 
tive is  a complex  curve11  instead  of  a quarter  circle;  fourth,  the  oldest 
French  pendentives  have  their  masonry  in  horizontal  courses  while  the 
Byzantine  frequently  have  their  courses  more  or  less  normal  to  the  curve; 
fifth  the  springing  of  the  domes  of  Saint  Front  is  some  distance  back  from 
the  circle  formed  by  the  pendentives,  the  diameter  of  the  dome  being  thus 
greater  than  its  impost,12  while  in  Byzantine  models,  the  two  correspond; 
and  sixth  and  last,  the  domes  of  Saint  Front  are  slightly  pointed  and, 
for  that  matter,  all  the  French  domes  are  at  least  semicircular,  while  the 
Byzantine  domes  are  generally  of  segmental  section.  The  explanation  of 
all  these  differences  lies  in  the  material  employed,  for  the  domes  of  Peri- 
gord  are  of  stone,  those  of  Byzantine  architecture  are  of  brick  or  some 
other  light  material.  The  pointed  arch  having  less  thrust  than  that  of 
semicircular  section  was  better  suited  for  stone  construction,  a fact  which 
explains  the  pointed  section  of  many  French  domes  whose  outward  thrusts 
were  thereby  greatly  reduced.  Moreover,  while  the  light  Byzantine  ma- 
terial made  possible  a dome  without  centering  constructed  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Egyptian  “voute-par-tranches,”13  the  heavy  stone  of  the  French 
vault  made  a centering  absolutely  necessary,  a fact  which  explains  the 
setting  back  of  the  dome  from  the  curve  of  the  pendentives  so  that  the  ledge 
thus  formed  might  serve  to  support  the  wooden  centering  employed.14  It 
explains  also  the  horizontal  courses  since  these  allowed  a greater  amount 
of  the  weight  of  each  course  to  be  borne  by  the  one  beneath  it,  thus  reduc- 
ing the  pressure  and  making  possible  a centering  of  comparative  lightness. 
But  these  were  not  the  only  results  of  the  employment  of  stone.  Since  the 
domes  of  Perigord  are  much  heavier  than  the  Byzantine  domes  and  exert 
much  more  outward  thrust  it  was  essential  for  them  to  have  very  firm 
supports.  Perhaps  it  is  with  this  in  view  that  the  churches  of  this  school 
are  for  the  greater  part  without  side  aisles,  their  outer  walls  with  heavy 
applied  and  transverse  arches  providing  suitable  support  for  the  domes. 
Even  when  aisles  exist,  they  are  merely  deep  wall  arches  forming  trans- 

11  Lasteyrie,  p.  472,  Fig.  489. 

12  Exception  to  this  at  Fontevrault,  see  Reber,  p.  358. 

13  See  Choisy,  I,  p.  20. 

14  See  Fig.  4. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


5 


verse  tunnel  vaults  rising  from  the  level  of  the  imposts  of  the  transverse 
arches  of  the  nave  and,  with  them,  furnishing  the  support  for  the  triangu- 
lar pendentives.  This  is  the  arrangement  in  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Front 
at  Perigueux  (Fig.  i),  the  only  church  in  France  of  this  particular  type.10 

The  Exterior  Roofing  of  Perigord  Domes 
One  advantage  in  the  employment  of  the  dome  of  stone  lay  in  the  fact 
that  it  might  be  faced  on  both  the  exterior  and  the  interior,  or  covered 
directly  by  tiles  without  the  use  of  a bonnet  of  wood  and  copper,  or  a 
roof  of  wood  and  tile,  so  frequently  seen  in  Byzantine  work.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  earliest  French  domes  were  treated  in  this  way,  however,  for 
indications  would  seem  to  point  to  the  original  employment  of  a wooden 
roof  over  the  domes  of  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Front.10  Nevertheless, 
these  domes  have  since  been  restored  with  an  exterior  stone  faci  ng  (Fig. 
2),  and  a similar  treatment  is  to  be  seen  at  Cahors  cathedral,  and  over 


Fig.  2. — Perigueux,  Cathedral. 


the  crossing  of  Angouleme.  In  these  domes  the  drum  is  first  built  up  in 
a slightly  ramping  wall,  to  offset  the  outward  thrust  of  the  vault,  and  the 
dome  itself  is  crowned  by  a lantern  toward  which  it  has  an  upward  curve, 

15  Other  examples,  all  in  Cyprus : 

1)  Peristeroma.  2)  Hieroskypos.  3)  Saint  Barnabas.  4)  Larnaca.  Enlart,  I,  p.  210, 
and  p.  286,  note  3. 

‘’Lasteyrie,  pp.  473,  474. 


6 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


rendering  the  exterior  steep  enough  to  shed  water  readily.  At  Angouleme 
the  domes  of  the  nave  are  entirely  concealed  by  a gable  roof,  perhaps  in 
the  early  manner  of  the  school.  Still  another  type  of  dome  covering 
appears  at  Saint  Etienne  in  Perigueux,17  where  the  curve  of  the  dome  does 
not  show  on  the  exterior,  but  where  the  drum  is  first  carried  up  around  the 
haunch,  and  then  surmounted  by  a flattened  conical  roof  of  tile,  which 
rests  directly  upon  the  vault  beneath. 

Characteristics  of  Perigord  Churches 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  the  employment  of  the  dome  on  penden- 
tives  over  square  bays  led  to  the  construction  of  churches  with  a broad 
nave  without  side  aisles.  Among  the  earliest  of  these  are  the  church  of 
Saint  Astier  (Dordogne),  (founded  about  1010  but  so  mutilated  as  to  show 
little  of  its  original  construction),18  and  Saint  Avit-Senieur  (Dordogne) 
(cir.  1 1 17),  originally  with  three  domes  which  were  replaced  by  domed  up 
Anjou  vaults  in  the  thirteenth  century.19  The  best  of  the  earlier  examples 
remaining  for  critical  study  are,  first,  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Pierre  at 
Angouleme,  whose  western  bay  was  constructed  between  11 00-1125, — the 
remaining  three  being  but  slightly  later' — and  second,  the  church  of  Saint 
Etienne  at  Perigueux,  originally  with  four  domes,  two  of  which  were  de- 
stroyed in  the  religious  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Of  the  two  which 
remain  the  more  recent  must  be  earlier  than  1163,  and  the  other  would 
seem  from  its  appearance  to  be  about  contemporary  with  that  of  the  west 
bay  of  Angouleme.20  These  two  with  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Front  (after 
1120)  furnish  three  excellent  examples  of  the  school,  to  which  a large  num- 
ber of  other  churches  might  be  added  as  illustrating  some  minor  differ- 
ences in  plan  or  elevation.21  The  cathedral  of  Angouleme  (Figs.  3 and  4) 
is  characteristic  of  the  school.  Deep  wall,  and  heavy  transverse  arches 
supply  substantial  impost  for  the  domes.  The  piers  of  the  western  bay 
are  of  simple  rectangular  plan  like  those  of  Saint  Avit-Senieur  and  Saint 

17  Lasteyrie,  Figs.  491  and  498.  Also  cathedral  of  Cahors  (original  state)  Fig.  495. 

’"See  Lasteyrie,  p.  473  and  Enlart,  I,  p.  211,  note  1. 

” Lasteyrie,  p.  474,  Fig.  490. 

M See  Lasteyrie,  p.  475. 

21  Among  them,  Cahors  (Lot)  Cath.  (consecrated  1119)  ; Souillac  (Lot)  Ch.,  Plan, 
Lasteyrie,  Fig.  493;  Fontevrault  (Maine  et  Loire)  Ab.  Ch.,  Plan,  Lasteyrie,  Fig.  494; 
Gensac  (Charente)  Ch.  (wooden  roof  over  dome),  Plan,  Lasteyrie,  Fig.  356.  Section 
Lasteyrie,  Fig.  496;  Solignac  (ITaute-Vienne)  Ch.,  (consecrated  1143). 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


7 


Etienne  at  Perigueux,  while  those  to  the  east  are  of  a later  compound 
tyoe  with  transverse  arches  and  wall-arches  in  two  orders  instead  of  the 

single  order  of  the  earlier  bay.  Except  over 
the  crossing,  where  there  is  a high  circular 
drum  forming  a lantern,  the  domes  are  not 
pierced  with  windows  around  their  base.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  covered  on  the 
exterior  by  a wooden  roof.22  It  is  more  usual 
to  find  four  small  windows  at  the  base  of 
each  dome  as  in  Perigueux,  Saint  Front  (Fig. 
i).23  The  use  of  stone  in  the  construction 
Fig.  3. — Angouleme,  Cathedral,  of  the  domes  explains  the  small  number 
of  these  windows  compared  to  that  in  Byzantine  architecture,24  since 
the  stability  of  the  vault  would  be  threatened  by  too  many  openings.  Be- 
sides this,  the  fact  that  the  churches  of  Perigord  have  no  aisles,  properly 
speaking,  permitted  sufficient  light  to  enter  through  windows  in  the  side 
walls.  In  fact  it  seems  quite  possible  that  the  windows  in  the  domes  of 
the  Perigord  churches  were  used  to  afford  resting  places  for  the  frame 
work  of  the  centering  even  more  than  for  light,  a fact  which  would  also 
seem  to  be  true  of  the  four  recesses  left  in  the  masonry  just  above  the 
cornice  of  the  domes  of  Angouleme  cathedral  (Fig.  4). 

The  Centering  of  Perigord  Domes 

In  support  of  this  theory  it  is  possible  to  point  out  that  if  long  cross 
beams  were  used  in  building  these  domes,  it  would  be  difficult  if  not  im- 
possible to  remove  them  after  the  dome  was  finished.  If,  however,  as  at 
Angouleme,  small  spaces  were  left  in  the  masonry  it  would  be  possible  to 
tilt  a beam  bevelled  at  each  end  and  resting  on  the  ledge  of  the  dome  and 
thus  remove  it  without  cutting.  Still  another  argument  in  favor  of  this 
theory  is  the  fact  that  the  open  spaces  to  north  and  south  are  above  the 
level  of  the  ledge,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  they  were  planned 
to  receive  the  end  of  a cross  beam  at  right  angles  to,  and  above  the  one 
running  lengthwise.  Of  course,  when  windows  took  the  place  of  these 

22  See  also  Gensac,  Lasteyrie,  Fig.  496,  and  Solignac,  Fig.  264. 

2J  Also  Cahors  Cath., — Perigueux  Saint  fitienne,  etc. 

24  See  comparison  of  Perigueux,  Saint  Front,  and  Venice,  San  Marco  in  Lasteyrie, 
p.  470,  Fig.  486  and  p.  471,  Fig.  487. 


8 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


small  recesses  the  removal  of  the  beam  could  be  made  through  them. 
There  remain,  however,  a number  of  churches  in  which  there  are  neither 
windows  nor  recesses,  but  in  most  of  these  the  ledge  of  the  dome  is  itself 
wide  enough  to  support  a beam  which  could  be  removed  without  striking 
the  vault  surface. 


Fig.  4. — Angouleme,  Cathedral. 


As  for  the  choirs  of  the  churches  of  this  school,  they  were  occasionally 
domed  as  at  Saint  Front25  (Fig.  1),  but  were  more  often  covered  by  a 
tunnel  vault  terminating  in  the  half  dome  of  the  apse.  The  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  choir  of  Saint  Front  (Fig.  1)  and  the  choir  of  Angouleme 
(Fig.  4)  illustrate  this  latter  arrangement. 

Naves  Vaulted  with  Domes  on  Squinches 

Although  very  frequently  used  over  the  crossing  of  Romanesque 
churches,  the  dome  on  squinches  is  seldom  found  over  the  bays  of  the  nave. 

"Also  Peristeroma  (Cyprus),  Enlart,  I,  p.  210  and  p.  286,  note  3;  Hieroskypos  Cy- 
prus), Enlart,  I,  p.  210  and  p.  286. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


9 


There  is  in  fact  no  distinct  school  in  which  this  method  is  employed  and 
the  examples  of  its  use  are  widely  scattered.  The  principal  one  is,  perhaps, 
the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Le  Puy  (Haute-Loire),  which  dates  from 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  Unlike  the  domed  churches  of  Peri- 
gord  it  is  of  basilical  plan  with  side  aisles.  The  nave  is  in  six  bays  with 
broad  arches  opening  into  the  aisles  and  a triforium  arcade  above  them. 
Across  the  nave  are  transverse  arches  separating  the  bays.  The  four 
toward  the  east  are  semicircular,  the  remaining  two  are  pointed  in  elevation. 
These  arches  rise  from  imposts  nearly  or  quite  as  low  as  those  of  the  nave 
arcade,  and  walls  are  built  upon  them  to  the  level  of  the  string-course  above 
the  triforium.  Six  rectangular  bays, — or  seven  including  the  crossing, — 
of  practically  square  plan  are  thus  formed  and  each  is  covered  with  a 
dome.  In  the  western  bays, — which  are  at  least  a century  later  than  those 
at  the  east  end  and  therefore  more  advanced  in  structure, — a clerestory 
wall  is  erected  with  a single  window  in  its  north  and  south  walls,  and  open- 
ings corresponding  to  windows  from  one  bay  to  the  next  above  the  trans- 
verse arches,  to  secure  a good  distribution  of  light  (Fig.  5).  Across  the 
upper  corners  of  these  four  walls  and  rising  from  the  same  level  as  the 
window  heads,  are  arches  with  half  domed  triangular  niches  beneath  them, 
converting  the  square  into  an  octagon  and  furnishing  the  impost  for  the 
domes.26  These  are  octagonal  in  elevation  as  well  as  plan  and  are  laid  up 
in  flat  panels,  or  gores,  which  meet  at  the  crown  (Fig.  6).  It  is  a type 
of  dome  admirably  suited  to  its  impost  since  it  presents  none  of  the  awk- 
ward appearances  of  a circular  dome  on  an  octagonal  base.27  It  is  also 
very  practical  from  a structural  standpoint.  Since  the  gores  are  flat,  the 
stone  cutting  is  far  less  elaborate  than  in  a hemispherical  dome,  and  the 
gored  dome  has  the  further  advantage  of  great  flexibility  since  it  may  be 
flattened  or  raised  at  the  crown,  placed  over  a square  bay  or  one  with  any 
number  of  sides,  and  made  equilateral  or  with  gores  of  different  widths, 
all  with  great  facility.  Furthermore,  when  the  naves  are  of  reasonable 
width,  as  in  most  churches  with  side  aisles,  the  thrust  of  the  dome  is  very 
slight  and  its  downward  pressure  is  not  excessive. 

The  clerestory  is  omitted  in  the  earlier  bays  and  the  crossing  has  peculiar  vaulting- 
described  in  a later  chapter. 

27  See  Rivoira,  I,  p.  35,  Fig.  51  and  Lasteyrie,  p.  267,  Fig.  259  for  examples  of  this 
awkward  type. 


IO 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


But  with  all  its  structural  advantages,  a system  like  that  at  Le  Puy  was 
not  a satisfactory  solution  of  nave  vaulting.  The  transverse  arches  were 
necessarily  so  far  below  the  surface  of  the  dome  that  the  continuity  of  the 


Fig.  5. — LePuy,  Cathedral. 


Wm 

Mmmm, 


flit 


mm 


Fig.  6. — LePuy,  Cathedral. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 1 

nave  as  a whole  was  destroyed,  and  the  appearance  was  rather  that  of  a 
series  of  lantern  towers  or  crossings  juxtaposed  than  of  a single  homo- 
geneous vault. 

The  side  aisles  of  Le  Puy  are  of  less  importance  than  the  nave,  though 
the  fact  that  some  of  their  bays  were  vaulted,  or  revaulted,  at  nearly  every 
period  of  mediaeval  architecture  makes  them  interesting  for  a study  of 
consecutive  methods.  In  the  bays  to  the  east  the  vaults  are  groined  on 
stilted,  round  headed  transverse  arches  in  the  early  Romanesque  manner, 
while  the  succeeding  bays  have  pointed  transverse  arches  with  groined 
vaults  closely  resembling  those  of  the  school  of  Bourgogne,  and  the  bays 
nearest  the  west  end  have  ribbed  vaults,  in  one  case  with  the  early  heavy- 
torus  rib,  in  another  with  the  light  rib  of  pointed  section  of  a late  Gothic 
rebuilding. 

Although  not  the  basis  of  a school  of  Romanesque  architecture,  the 
cathedral  of  Le  Puy  was  not  without  its  influence.  This  is  especially  ap- 
parent in  the  large  church  of  Saint  Hilaire  at  Poitiers  (Figs.  7,  and  8), 


Fig.  7. — Poitiers,  Saint  Hilaire. 


12 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


which  was  constructed  with  very  broad  nave  and  aisles, — both  covered  with 
wooden  roofs,' — after  a disastrous  fire  of  1018,  and  dedicated  in  1059. 
In  1130  the  vaulting  of  this  church  was  undertaken,  the  result  being  a 
most  unusual  edifice.  As  the  nave  was  too  broad  to  be  easily  covered 
by  a vault  of  single  span,  it  was  subdivided  by  lofty  and  slender  piers  and 
arches  into  a central  portion  consisting  of  square  bays,28  and  narrow 
rectangular  bays  forming  veritable  inner  aisles  on  either  side.  These  nar- 
row bays  were  covered  with  groined  vaults  directly  above  the  original 
clerestory  windows  which  thus  continued  to  light  the  newly  formed  nave. 
Domes  were  then  placed  over  the  square  central  bays  as  had  been  done 
at  Le  Puy,  but  instead  of  the  niche-head-squinch  and  the  practically  equi- 
lateral octagonal  dome,  small  conical  trumpet  arches  were  employed  at 
Saint  Hilaire,  and  the  gores  of  the  dome  rising  from  these  were  much 
narrower  than  the  four  remaining  panels.  This  gives  the  dome  rather  the 
character  of  a cloistered  vault  with  its  corners  cut  off  than  of  a dome 
properly  speaking.  Since  the  clerestory  is  below  the  level  of  the  transverse 
arches  upon  which  the  domes  of  Saint  Hilaire  are  built,  the  interior  has  a 
loftier  and  less  broken  appearance  than  that  of  Notre  Dame-du-Puy.  But 
even  so  the  effect  is  not  remarkably  pleasing. 

The  side  aisles  of  Saint  Hilaire  (Fig.  8)  are  quite  as  interesting  in  their 
vaulting  as  the  nave.  A single  broad  aisle  on  either  side,  which  apparently 
opened  into  the  nave  through  lofty  arches  rising  almost  to  the  clerestory, 
and  which  probably  had  transverse  arches  with  ramping  walls  carrying 
half  gable  roofs,  was  altered  when  it  was  determined  to  vault  the  church. 
In  doing  this,  two  arches  with  a solid  wall  above  were  placed  under  each 
of  the  original  arches  of  the  nave  arcade,  a slender  column  built  up  in  the 
center  of  each  of  the  original  bays,  and  upon  the  pseudo-double  side  aisles 
thus  formed,  compound  groined  vaults  were  constructed  in  a manner  best 
understood  from  the  photograph  (Fig.  8). 

Except  for  those  just  mentioned  there  are  but  few  Romanesque  churches, 
— outside  of  Italy  and  Sicily, — in  which  the  nave  is  covered  by  a series  of 
domes.29  But  because  of  the  powerful  Byzantine  influence,  these  latter 

3'  See  Fig.  7.  There  is  one  rectangular  bay  at  the  end  of  the  transept  aisles  and  this 
is  covered  by  an  interpenetrating  vault  at  the  level  of  the  transverse  nave  arches. 

19  in  France,  at  Champagne  (Ardeche),  there  is  a church  vaulted  in  a manner  similar 
to  Le  Puy,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  such  a method  was  the  original  intention  of  the 
builders,  since  each  dome  is  placed  over  two  rectangular  nave  bays.  Enlart,  I,  pp.  289-291. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


countries  contain  a large  number  of  churches  of  semi-Byzantine,  semi- 
Romanesque  character,  some  of  which  are  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury.30 Most  of  these  are  so  distinctly  Byzantine  that  they  do  not  properly 


Fig.  8. — Poitiers,  Saint  Hilaire. 


fall  within  the  province  of  this  book,  in  spite  of  their  late  date;  but  others, 
like  the  cathedral  of  Molfetta,31  have  a vaulting  system  quite  closely  allied 
to  the  Romanesque.32  In  this  particular  cathedral,  a nave  of  three  square 

Plan,  Fig.  120.  This  is,  however,  a most  interesting  church  for  the  domes  are  very 
segmental  in  section,  are  supported  upon  squinches  and  have  transverse  arches  through 
their  centers.  There  is  also  no  clerestory  and,  in  fact,  the  entire  church  is  of  the  standard 
Auvergne  type  except  for  the  vaults.  A reference  to  the  drawings  in  Baudot  and  Perrault- 
Dabot,  Vol.  V,  pi.  27,  will  show  this  peculiar  system. 

'i0  Among  these  may  be  cited:  Venice,  San  Marco,  reconstructed  1052  or  1071,  dedi- 

cated Dec.  8,  1094,  but  added  to  and  decorated  in  the  twelfth  century  and  later.  Canosa, 
San  Sabino  (1101).  Trani,  Santa  Maria  Immacolata  (twelfth  century).  Santa  Maria  dei 
Martiri  (near  Trani)  (also  twelfth  century).  Molfetta,  Cathedral  (late  twelfth  and 
early  thirteenth  century).  Padua,  Sant’  Antonio  (thirteenth  century)  Byzantine-Gothic 
type,  numerous  Silician  churches,  etc. 

31  Plan,  in  Cummings,  II,  p.  18,  Fig.  248.  Interior  in  Michel,  I,  p.  542,  Fig.  273. 

“Similar  churches:  Trani,  Santa  Maria  Immacolata,  plan  in  Dehio  and  von  Bezold, 

I.  P-  354-  Santa  Maria  dei  Martiri,  Ch. 


14 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


bays  is  covered  by  three  domes,  one  on  flattened  spherical  pendentives,  the 
others  on  niche-head-sqninches.  Two  of  them  rise  from  drums  and  un- 
like their  Byzantine  prototypes,  they  are  all  of  stone.33  Moreover,  the  side 
aisles  are  covered  with  half  tunnel  vaults  on  full  transverse  arches,  the 
crown  of  the  vaults  together  with  the  nave  walls  above  them  acting  as 
admirable  buttresses  for  the  domes.  A system  not  quite  so  logical  exists 
in  the  aisles  of  the  church  of  San  Sabino  at  Canosa  (noo),  where  there 
are  full  tunnel  vaults  which  do  not  serve  so  adequately  as  buttresses. 

Pyramidal  Vaults 

Although  not  vaulted  with  domes,  the  church  of  Saint  Ours  at  Loches 
in  France  (Indre-et-Loire)  (Figs.  9 and  10)  has  a close  connection  with 


Fig.  9. — Loches,  Saint  Ours. 


such  churches  as  those  of  Perigord  and  Notre  Dame-du-Puy.  This  collegiate 
church  was  probably  constructed  a little  before  1168,  and  originally  con- 
sisted of  a nave  divided  into  square  bays  by  transverse  arches  of  pointed 


m Rarely  the  case  in  Byzantine  architecture. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


15 


elevation  and  side  aisles  which  have  now  disappeared.  Each  nave  bay  is 
converted  from  a square  into  an  octagon  by  flat  triangular  pendentives  on 
very  small  trumpet  arches.  But  instead  of  domes,  the  builders  of  Saint 


Fig.  10. — Loches,  Saint  Ours. 


Ours  substituted  a hollow  octagonal  pyramid  of  stone  over  each  bay.  Such 
a system,  while  presenting  the  same  aesthetic  objection  as  that  of  Le  Puy, 
had  greater  structural  advantages.  The  pyramids  could  be  built  entirely 
without  centering,  and  exerted  almost  no  outward  thrust,  while  the  stones 
of  which  they  were  constructed  could  be  faced  on  the  exterior  (Fig.  9) 


i6 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


as  well  as  the  interior,  and  the  steep  roof  thus  formed  provided  adequate 
drainage  for  the  rain  and  snow  of  the  region.34 

Tunnel  Vaults 

If  the  dome  played  but  a small  part  in  Romanesque  architecture,  such 
was  not  the  case  with  the  tunnel  vault.  Almost  as  old  as  civilization  itself, 
this  method  of  vaulting  had  been  employed  to  a greater  or  less  extent  in 
every  age  from  the  Egyptian  period  to  that  of  the  Carolingian  Empire. 
It  is  natural,  therefore,  to  find  it  the  principal  method  in  use  during  the 
entire  Romanesque  era.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  trace  its  history  back  to 
Persian  or  Armenian  sources.  The  builders  of  the  eleventh  and  subsequent 
centuries  had  plenty  of  examples  nearer  at  hand.  Roman  vaults,  some  of 
them  of  stone,  were  still  in  a good  state  of  preservation  in  many  parts  of 
the  western  world,  and  almost  every  country  or  province  possessed  ex- 
amples dating  from  Carolingian  days.35  It  is  not  the  use  of  this  roofing 
system,  therefore,  but  the  skill  with  which  it  was  adapted  to  the  naves  and 
aisles  of  churches  of  basilical  plan,  that  furnishes  the  most  interesting 
features  in  the  study  of  Romanesque  tunnel  vaulting.  In  fact,  so  distinct 
are  the  combinations  and  methods  employed  in  different  regions,  that  they 
constitute  veritable  architectural  schools  which  may  be  classified  and  sepa- 
rately discussed.30 

Romanesque  Schools  of  Tunnel  Vaulted  Churches 
The  four  major  schools  lie  in  France  and  center  around  the  ancient 
provinces  of  Provence,  Poitou,  Auvergne,  and  Bourgogne,  whence  they 
derive  their  names.  All  four  are  comprised  in  practically  the  same  period, 
— namely,  the  eleventh  and  part,  at  least,  of  the  twelfth  centuries, — and 
it  would  be  impossible  to  arrange  them  in  any  chronological  order.  But 
from  its  resemblance  to  the  Roman  monuments  in  the  midst  of  which  it 
grew  and  the  fact  that  it  had  comparatively  little  structural  influence  upon 
the  other  schools,  Provence  will  be  the  first  to  be  considered. 

**  Choisy  (Choisy,  II,  p.  201)  thus  accounts  for  the  vaults,  which  would  then  be  variants 
of  Perigord  domes,  but  the  plan  and  supports  of  the  pyramids  suggest  the  influence  of 
Le  Puy. 

ii5  Examples  in  France:  Grenoble,  Saint  Laurent  (crypt  of  the  seventh  or  eighth  cen- 
tury), Germigny,  des-Pres  (ninth  century),  etc.  Examples  in  Italy:  Milan,  Sant’ 

Ambrogio  (choir  of  the  ninth  century),  Agliate,  etc. 

’For  illustrations  of  Romanesque  churches  and  vaults,  the  reader  is  advised  to  consult 
Lasteyrie,  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  and  Enlart. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


The  School  of  Provence 

The  cities  of  Arles  and  Nimes  had  been  important  Roman  provincial 
centers.  Moreover,  they  still  retained,  and  to  this  day  possess,  a large 
number  of  Roman  monuments  whose  influence  upon  the  Romanesque 
churches  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  is  plainly  apparent.  Thus 
vaults  which  carry  directly  the  tiles  of  the  roof,  single  aisled  churches  re- 
sembling the  little  Nymphaeum,  or  so-called  temple  of  Diana  at  Nimes,  the 
employment  of  flat  pilasters  in  place  of  the  more  usual  applied  shafts  of 
curved  section,  and  a host  of  minor  details  all  reflecting  classic  usage  are 
marked  characteristics  of  this  school. 

Provence  Churches  of  the  First  Type 
When  considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  vaulting,  the  churches  of 
Provence  fall  into  five  distinct  groups.  The  first,  illustrated  by  the  chapel 
of  Saint  Gabriel  near  Tarascon  (Bouches-du-Rhone),37  is  composed  of 
churches  with  no  side  aisles.  These  are  covered  with  tunnel  vaults  of 
semicircular  or  pointed  section,  with  or  without  transverse  arches  and  car- 
rying directly  the  tiles  of  the  roof.  The  supporting  walls  are  frequently 
strengthened  by  a series  of  interior  applied  arches  in  one  or  more  orders 
thickening  the  wall  at  the  impost  of  the  vault.  Outside  of  this  interior 
buttressing,  which  has  already  been  seen  in  Perigord,  the  churches  of  this 
type  are  of  little  structural  interest. 

Provence  Churches  of  the  Second  Type 
In  the  remaining  groups,  side  aisles  are  always  present  and  these  have 
four  distinct  vaulting  systems.  In  the  first,  tunnel  vaults  are  employed 
throughout  the  edifice.  Saint  Nazaire3s  (after  1090),  the  former  cathedral 
of  Carcassonne  (Aude),  though  somewhat  removed  from  the  center  of 
the  school,  illustrates  this  system.  Both  nave  and  aisle  vaults  rise  from 
the  same  impost  level.  The  vault  of  the  nave  is  slightly  pointed,  those  of 
the  aisles  are  semicircular,  and  both  have  transverse  arches.  It  is  a simple 
and  practical  method  of  construction,  since  the  aisle  vaults  furnish  admir- 
able abutment  for  that  of  the  nave,  and  all  three  are  covered  by  a gable 

SI  See  also  Montmajour  (Bouches-du-Rhone)  ; Saint  Martin-de-Londres  (Herault)  ; 
Saint  Pierre-de-Redes  (Herault);  Molleges  (Bouches-du-Rhone),  Saint  Thomas.  See 
Reber,  pp.  337,  Figs.  201-202. 

83  Also  Lerins  ( Alpes-Maritimes),  Saint  Honorat  (portion). 


i8 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


roof  of  masonry  resting  directly  upon  the  vault  crowns.  Its  one  great 
fault  is  the  absence  of  direct  light  in  the  nave,  a condition  which  introduces 
the  problem  of  lighting  a tunnel-vaulted  church. 

The  Lighting  of  Tunnel-Vaulted  Churches 

This  problem  was  second  only  to  that  of  constructing  the  vaults  them- 
selves and,  furthermore,  it  had  much  to  do  with  the  forms  which  these 
assumed  and  even  with  the  plan  of  the  church.  When  there  were  no  side 
aisles,  windows  were  cut  directly  through  the  outer  walls,  but  to  introduce 
a clerestory  above  an  aisle  arcade  involved  a number  of  structural  diffi- 
culties. The  side  aisle  vaults  no  longer  aided  in  supporting  that  of  the 
nave,  and  in  fact  exerted  an  inward  pressure  at  a point  below  its  impost 
where  such  pressure  was  most  difficult  to  offset.  At  the  same  time,  the 
outward  thrust  of  the  central  tunnel  vault  was  increased  in  proportion  to 
its  elevation  from  the  ground.  The  simplest  method  of  meeting  these  diffi- 
culties was  to  increase  the  thickness  of  the  clerestory  walls,  or  add  simple 
salient  buttresses  and  trust  to  good  construction  to  offset  the  increased 
thrusts.  This  was  the  method  adopted  by  most  of  the  Romanesque  build- 
ers.39 It  was  only  in  the  school  of  Bourgogne,  and  under  its  influence,  that 
the  problem  received  a better  solution — which  will  later  be  discussed  at 
length — and  not  until  the  Transitional  and  Gothic  periods  that  it  was 
completely  solved  by  dispensing  entirely  with  the  tunnel  vaults. 

While  its  chief  effect  was  upon  vaulting,  the  lighting  problems  fre- 
quently affected  the  plan  of  the  church  as  well.  When  the  nave  was 
without  direct  light,  the  aisles  were  almost  always  narrowed  to  permit 
light  to  enter  from  windows  in  their  outer  wall.  Double  aisles  were  prac- 
tically impossible,40  unless  the  inner  aisles  had  triforium  galleries  supplied 
with  windows.41 

Nor  did  the  problem  of  lighting  enter  merely  into  the  construction  of 

3”  Early  examples:  Saint  Genou,  choir  (end  of  eleventh  century),  Saint  Benoit-sur- 
Loire,  choir  (begun  1602),  Nevers,  Saint  fitienne. 

'“’The  double-aisled  abbey  church  of  Souvigny,  which  has  a clerestory,  might  be  cited 
as  an  exception  to  this  statement,  but  judging  from  the  narrowness  of  its  inner  aisles 
(Fig.  19)  it  would  appear  as  if  its  nave  had  originally  been  deprived  6f  direct  light,  and 
that  the  present  clerestory  must  have  been  introduced  with  or  without  a vault  above 
it,  either  before  or  at  the  time  when  the  outer  aisles  were  added.  If  so,  it  would  not 
prove  an  exception  to  the  rule.  The  present  nave  vault  is  an  addition  of  a late  Gothic 
period. 

41  As  in  Saint  Sernin  at  Toulouse. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


i9 


simple  tunnel  vaulted  churches.  It  was  involved  with  that  of  all  kinds 
of  vaulting  throughout  the  entire  Romanesque  and  Gothic  periods.  Trans- 
verse tunnel  vaults  like  those  of  Tournus,  groined  vaults  like  those  of 
Vezelay,  the  development  of  the  Gothic  chevet  from  the  half  domed  apse, 
and  the  systems  of  ribbed  vaulting  which  are  frequently  found  in  the 
crossings,  aisles,  and  ambulatories  of  Gothic  churches,  all  are  closely  re- 
lated to  the  lighting  problem. 

Provence  Churches  of  the  Second  Type  continued 

Returning  to  Provence,  it  will  be  recalled  that  Saint  Nazaire  at  Carcas- 
sonne was  described  as  a typical  example  of  the  second  class  of  churches 
of  this  school,  entirely  tunnel  vaulted,  with  narrow  side  aisles  whose  lateral 
windows  afford  the  only  light  with  which  the  nave  is  supplied.  There  are, 
however,  a few  churches,  vaulted  like  Saint  Nazaire,  in  which  the  builders 
introduced  a clerestory.  Among  these  is  the  abbey  church  of  Saint  Guil- 
hem-du-Desert  (Herault)  (rebuilt  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century).4^ 
Here  the  clerestory  is  of  considerable  height,  the  heads  of  the  windows 
lying  beneath  the  imposts  of  the  tunnel  vaults,  a fact  which  renders  this 
church  one  of  the  most  developed  of  the  school.  Yet  this  development  lies 
merely  in  the  presence  of  the  windows,  and  not  in  any  structural  advances 
which  made  their  presence  possible.  It  was  because  of  the  excellent 
masonry  of  the  heavy  walls  and  piers,  that  the  Provence  builders  dared  to 
attempt  this  innovation.  The  vaults  themselves  are  no  lighter  than  before 
and  still  carry  the  entire  weight  of  the  roof.  In  fact,  the  whole  system  is 
one  of  inert  stability,  analogous  to  Roman  construction,  and  exhibits  little 
if  any  advance  toward  the  elasticity  and  balanced  thrusts  which  were  to 
characterize  Gothic  architecture. 

Provence  Churches  of  the  Third  Type 

The  churches  in  the  third  Provence  group  differ  from  those  in  the 
second  only  in  having  half  tunnel  vaults  in  the  side  aisles,  but  this  differ- 
ence is  sufficient  to  change  to  some  extent  the  character  and  methods  of 
construction.  In  the  simple  churches  of  this  type  where  there  is  no  cleres- 
tory as,  for  example,  in  the  western  portion  of  the  little  church  of  Saint 
Honorat,  belonging  to  the  monastery  of  the  Isle-de-Lerins  (Alpes-Mari- 

a Reber,  p.  341,  Fig.  205a,  and  Lasteyrie,  p.  413,  Fig.  431. 


20 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


times),43  the  half  tunnel  vault  of  the  aisles  furnishes  better  abutment  for 
that  of  the  nave  than  the  full  tunnel  vaults  of  the  second  type,  and  at  the 
same  time  permits  loftier  arches  to  be  constructed  in  the  nave  arcades, 
giving  a better  distribution  of  light  without  raising  the  imposts  of  any 
of  the  vaults. 

When,  however,  a clerestory  is  added,  as  in  Saint  Trophime  at  Arles 
(first  half  of  the  twelfth  century),  the  inward  pressure  of  the  aisle  vaults 
is  even  more  severe  than  in  Saint  Guilhem-du-Desert  and  at  the  same 
awkward  place,  so  that  the  only  structural  advantage  at  Arles  lies  in  the 
added  height  of  the  nave  arches.  It  is  a noticeable  feature  of  Saint  Tro- 
phime that  the  aisles  have  full,  instead  of  half  arches44  used  transversely 
beneath  the  vaults,  very  probably  because  the  former  exerted  less  inward 
thrust,  and  could  also  be  weighed  down  by  a solid  wall  which  increased 
the  rigidity  of  the  structure  by  tying  the  pier  of  the  nave  arcade  to  the 
outer  wall,  and  strengthened  the  clerestory  for  the  support  of  the  high 
vault.  The  system  has  already  been  noted  in  the  cathedral  of  Molfetta,45 
and  will  be  found  repeated  either  in  the  triforia  or  aisles  of  a number  of 
Romanesque  churches  of  different  schools.46 

Provence  Churches  of  the  Fourth  Type 
The  employment  of  a three-quarters  tunnel  vault  over  the  aisles  renders 
the  fourth  group  of  Provence  churches  a cross  between  the  second  and 
third.  Like  them  it  contains  examples  with  and  without  a clerestory.  Of 
these  the  cathedral  at  Vaison  (Vaucluse)47  (twelfth  century)  illustrates 
the  former,  and  the  abbey  church  of  Silvacane  (Bouches-du-Rhone)  (sec- 

48  Reber,  p.  342,  Fig.  260a.  See  also,  Ab.baye  de  Fontfroide,  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot, 
V,  pi.  41. 

11  Found  also  in  St.  Paul-Trois-Chateaux,  Lasteyrie,  p.  412,  Fig.  429. 

48  See  pp.  13,  14. 

4“Exs.,  Issoire  (Puy-de-Dome),  Saint  Paul,  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  269,  Fig.  102,  or  Choisy 
II,  p.  209.  Toulouse  (Haute-Garonne),  Saint  Sernin,  see  Choisy,  II,  p.  212.  Culhat 
(Puy-de-Dome),  Ch.  Lasteyrie,  p.  250,  Fig.  241.  Parthenay-le-Vieux  (Deux-Sevres) , 
Notre  Dame,  ill.  in  Choisy,  I,  p.  205,  etc. 

*'  Enlart,  I,  p.  267,  Fig.  100  and  Lasteyrie,  p.  413,  Fig.  430. 

The  clerestory  at  Vaison  is  hardly  worthy  of  the  name,  for  its  windows  are  cut  entirely 
above  the  imposts  of  the  vault,  which  is  of  pointed  section,  and  therefore  does  not  acquire 
thickness  so  rapidly  as  to  render  the  windows  too  deep  to  admit  a reasonable  amount  of 
light.  The  construction  of  such  a clerestory  consists  merely  in  taking  advantage  of  the 
pointed  form  of  vaulting  without  presenting  structural  advances.  Its  windows  are  nec- 
essarily small  and  deep  set  and  the  system  is  not  a satisfactory  solution  of  the  lighting 
problem. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


21 


ond  half  of  the  twelfth  century)48  the  latter  form.  The  advantage  of  the 
three-quarter  type  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  exerts  less  thrust  against  the  inner 
wall  than  does  the  half  tunnel  and  still  makes  possible  loftier  arches  in  the 
nave  arcade  compared  to  the  height  of  the  aisle  vault  than  does  the  full 
tunnel  vault.  But  these  slight  advantages  are  offset  by  its  ugly  appearance, 
and  it  was  never  in  any  sense  popular. 

Provence  Churches  of  the  Fifth  Type 
The  system  of  the  fifth  type  of  the  school  of  Provence  is  that  of  a tunnel 
vaulted  nave  with  side  aisles  covered  by  transverse  tunnel  vaults.  1 his 
method  is,  however,  so  different  from  the  other  four  and  was  so  widely 
extended, — largely  through  Cistercian  influence — that  it  can  hardly  be  said 
to  be  inherent  in  any  one  school,  but  rather  to  constitute  an  individual 
group  of  churches  which  will  be  separately  considered. 

From  the  foregoing  discussion  of  the  entire  school,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  builders  of  Provence  produced  very  little  that  was  original  in  vault  con- 
struction. It  was  not  a school  of  progress,  but  rather  one  of  conservative 
adherence  to  the  Roman  tradition  of  the  province  around  which  it  centered. 
Its  most  progressive  feature  was,  perhaps,  the  preference  it  displayed  for 
the  pointed  tunnel  vault,49  and  this  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the 
vault  in  Provence  generally  carries  directly  the  tiles  of  the  roof  and  less 
masonry  was  necessary  to  carry  a pointed  vault  up  into  a gable  than  would 
have  been  the  case  with  one  of  semicircular  section.  One  further  prefer- 
ence, which  shows  the  structural  sense  of  the  Provence  builders,  is  that  for 
transverse  arches  under  the  vaults,  which  not  only  make  possible  lighter 
masonry  in  the  vaults  themselves,  but  also  lessen  the  centering  necessary 
for  their  construction. 

Vaults  Similar  to  those  of  Provence  in  other  Romanesque 

Churches 

Such  methods  of  vaulting  as  those  just  described  are  not  confined  to 
Provence.  In  Poitou,  for  example,  there  is  a group  of  churches  with  half- 
tunnel vaults  in  their  side  aisles.  Some  of  these,  like  Saint  Eutrope  at 
Saintes  (Charente-Inferieure)50  (eleventh  century)  and  Aigues-Vives 

48  Revoil,  II,  pi.  XVIII. 

49  Semicircular  vaults  were  sometimes  used,  however.  Example,  Saint  Paul-Trois 
Chateaux  (Drome),  Cath.  (first  half  of  the  twelfth  century),  L.asteyrie,  p.  412,  Fig.  429,  etc. 

60  Choisy,  II,  p.  206,  Fig.  14. 


22 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


(Loir-et-Cher),51  have  corresponding  half  arches,  others,  like  Parthenay- 
le-Vieux  (Deux-Sevres),32  (cir.  1129)  have  full  transverse  arches  beneath 
these  vaults.  Moreover,  in  Auvergne  the  triforium  is  regularly  covered 
with  a half  tunnel  vault  buttressing  the  tunnel  vault  of  the  nave,  and  in  a 
few  instances,  as  at  Culhat  (Puy-de-Dome),53  the  side  aisles  are  in  one 
story  with  similar  vaulting.  There  are  also  many  instances  outside  of 
Provence  in  which  the  aisles  have  full  tunnel  vaults.  Between  Auvergne 
and  Bourgogne  there  is  an  example  in  the  abbey  church  at  Souvigny 
(Allier)  (eleventh  century)  (Fig.  11),  and  such  a system  may  quite  pos- 
sibly have  been  employed  in  the  aisles  of  Cluny34  and  in  those  of  the  choir 
of  Saint  Benoit-sur-Loire  (Loiret)53  (second  half  of  the  eleventh  century). 
Even  in  England  it  occurs  in  the  Tower  Chapel  at  London36  (begun  1078), 
and  is  also  found  in  Poitou  at  Melle  (Deux-Sevres),  Saint  Pierre57  (early 
twelfth  century),  where  the  vaults  are  pointed,  and  at  Lesterps  (Char- 
ente),5S  where  they  are  of  semicircular  section.  The  three-quarter  tunnel 
vault  also  is  not  confined  to  Provence  for  it  appears  as  far  north  as  Saint 
Genou  (Indre)  in  the  eleventh  century. 

The  foregoing  examples  serve  only  to  indicate  that  such  systems  as 
these  which  are  inherently  simple  in  construction  came,  very  naturally,  to 
be  widely  employed  during  the  Romanesque  era.  Where  they  originated 
it  is  impossible  to  say,  but  the  fact  that  they  are  so  elementary  in  principle 
and  often  vary  in  some  of  their  structural  characteristics39  may  indicate 
that  they  were  developed  independently  and  contemporaneously  in  various 
localities. 


Naves  with  Tunnel  Vaults  and  Aisles  Groined 
The  next  three  schools  of  Romanesque  architecture  have  one  feature  in 
common,  namely,  the  employment  of  groined  vaults  over  the  side  aisles. 

01  Enlart,  I,  p.  268,  Fig.  101. 

BZChoisy,  II,  p.  205,  Fig.  13. 

“Lasteyrie,  p.  250,  Fig.  241. 

r‘l  See  statement  to  that  effect  in  Rivoira,  II,  p.  106. 

65  See  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  p.  260. 

M Ruprich-Robert,  p.  8,  Fig.  45,  and  Reber,  Fig.  235. 

67  Lasteyrie,  p.  455,  Fig.  473. 

M J.asteyrie,  p.  456,  Fig.  474,  also  Saint  Jouin-de-Marnes  (Deux-Sevres),  Baudot  and 
Rcrrault-Dabot,  IT,  pi.  32,  and  Nouaille  (Vienne),  Ch.,  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot, 
II,  pi.  37- 

6”  For  example,  the  aisle  vaults  seldom  carry  the  tile  of  the  roofs  outside  of  Provence 
and  Auvergne. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING  23 

But  the  form  which  these  assume  and  their  relations  to  the  tunnel  vaults  of 
the  nave  differ  sufficiently  to  distinguish  the  churches  of  Poitou,  Auvergne 
and  Bourgogne  from  one  another. 

The  School  of  Poitou 

The  chronology  of  the  churches  of  Poitou  is  somewhat  obscure,  but  the 
vaulting  principles  of  the  school  were  well  developed  early  in  the  eleventh 


Fig.  11. — Souvigny,  Abbey  Church. 

century,  to  which  period  a number  of  the  existing  churches  belong.  Their 
naves  are  tunnel  vaulted  and  without  a clerestory,  the  light  entering 
through  windows  in  the  outer  walls  of  the  aisles,  which  are  narrow  and 
high  and  covered  with  groined  vaults  rising  from  the  imposts  of  the 


24 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


arches  opening  into  the  nave.  The  entire  church  has  a single-gabled  ex- 
terior roof  of  wood  and  tile,  its  rafters  supported  near  their  centers  by  a 
wall  above  the  nave  arcade,  and  thus  not  resting  directly  upon  the  extrades 
of  the  vaults.60  Certain  minor  structural  differences  make  it  possible  to 
divide  the  churches  of  Poitou  into  two  groups. 

The  first  is  composed  of  the  earlier  churches,  of  which  Saint  Savin-sur- 
Gartempe  (Vienne)  (begun  cir.  1023)  is  the  best  and  perhaps  the  only 
existing  example.  In  it,  both  nave  and  aisle  vaults  are  without  transverse 
arches.  All  the  vaults  are  semicircular  in  section,  and  those  of  the  aisles61 
have  their  transverse  surfaces  continuous  with  the  soffits  of  the  nave 
arches.62  This  gives  them  the  flattened  groins  so  characteristic  of  Roman 
architecture.  Such  a system  as  this  required  an  extensive  wooden  center- 
ing, and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  builders  of  Poitou  soon  introduced 
transverse  arches  beneath  the  vaults, — perhaps  through  the  influence  of 
Lombardy,  where  they  were  in  use  as  early  as  the  tenth  century63 — thus 
producing  a group  of  churches  which  form  the  second  type  of  the  school. 

Notre  Dame-la-Grande  at  Poitiers  (Vienne)  (early  twelfth  century), 
is  an  early  example  of  this  class.  Transverse  arches  are  employed  through- 
out the  church,  not  only  strengthening  the  vaults  but  making  it  possible  to 
save  centering  by  using  the  same  form  for  each  successive  bay  and  at  the 
same  time  reducing  to  some  extent  the  thickness  of  the  web  by  thus 
breaking  it  up  into  smaller  units.64 

Toward  the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century  the  system  was  still  fur- 
ther improved  by  the  introduction  of  pointed  arches  and  vaults  in  both  nave 
and  aisles,  as  for  example  in  the  abbey  church  of  Cunault  (Maine-et- 

w This  arrangement  is  general  in  the  school  and  may  be  understood  by  referring  to 
the  illustration  of  Melle,  Saint  Pierre,  Lasteyrie,  p.  455,  Fig.  473.  A number  of  churches 
which  are  exceptions  to  this  rule  have  already  been  noted  under  Provence  (see  pp.  21,  22). 

"l  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  454,  Fig.  471. 

13  The  three  western  bays  of  the  church  are  early  twelfth  century  and  have  transverse 
arches.  ■ 

“ Rivoira  (Rivoira,  I,  p.  97)  says  that  such  arches  were  used  beneath  groined  vaults 
as  early  as  the  eighth  century  in  the  palace  of  Theodoric  at  Ravenna,  and  gives  as  tenth 
century  examples  (p.  176)  the  aisles  of  Sant’  Eustorgio  at  Milan  and  the  nave  and  aisles 
of  S.S.  Felice  e Fortunato,  at  Vicenza,  and  as  examples  of  the  early  eleventh  century,  the 
nave  and  aisles  of  San  Eabila,  also  at  Milan. 

M It  is  a question  whether  the  transverse  arches  actually  carried  much  or  any  of  the 
weight  of  the  vault.  (See  discussion  of  this  point  as  regards  crypts  in  Porter,  Construc- 
tion of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  pp.  17-18.)  They  did,  however,  strengthen  the 
church  by  tying  together  the  piers  and  walls  besides  saving  centering  as  above  stated. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Loire).  The  flattened  type  of  groin  has  here  been  abandoned,  though  the 
vaults  are  not  of  domed-up  type.  Such  doming  is  to  be  found  in  Poitou, 
however,  in  Saint  Pierre  at  Chauvigny  (Vienne),60  probably  with  the  in- 
tention of  saving  centering,  as  in  Byzantine  architecture.  But  even  though 
the  builders  of  Poitou  made  some  progress  in  vaulting,  they  never  at- 
tempted to  solve  the  associated  problem  of  getting  direct  light  in  the  nave. 
Hence  such  progress  was  but  slight  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  churches 
of  the  school.66 


The  School  of  Auvergne 

The  Origin  and  Use  of  the  Triforium  Gallery  in  Auvergne 

One  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  typical  churches  of  Auvergne 
is  the  presence  of  a second  story  or  triforium  gallery  above  the  side  aisles. 
To  account  for  its  presence  a number  of  theories  have  been  advanced. 
That  such  galleries  were  not  intended  for  congregational  purposes,  at  least 
in  the  early  churches  of  the  school,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  they  are 
but  dimly  lighted  and  accessible  only  by  narrow  staircases  in  dark  corners. 
They  may  have  been  used  for  storerooms  or  treasuries  for  relics  brought 
by  pilgrims, — a possibility  which  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  they 
ceased  to  be  built  in  the  thirteenth  century  when  the  era  of  the  Crusades 
was  past,67 — or  they  may  have  been  useful  places  from  which  to  defend 
the  church,  corresponding  in  this  respect  to  the  room  frequently  found  in 
the  second  story  of  Romanesque  towers.68  But  whatever  their  use,  they 
would  seem,  in  Auvergne,  at  least,  to  have  originated  on  purely  structural 
grounds. 

The  expedient  of  dividing  the  openings  from  the  nave  of  the  church  to 
the  aisles  into  two  stages,  with  the  evident  intention  of  thus  reducing  the 
height  of  the  piers  and  even  of  making  lighter  piers  possible,  was  em- 
ployed in  a number  of  churches  both  earlier  and  later  than  those  in 
Auvergne.  It  may  even  be  in  part  the  explanation  of  the  double  colon- 
nade in  the  Lateran  Baptistery,  and  the  upper  stories  in  the  chapel  at 

65  Lasteyrie,  p.  455,  Fig.  472. 

C9The  influence  of  the  Poitou  system  was  quite  extensive,  however,  as  is  shown  by  the 
little  church  of  Saint  Loup-de-Naud  (Seine-et-Marne)  (eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries), 
Choisy,  II,  p.  207,  Fig.  15. 

67  See  Choisy,  II,  p.  210.  The  great  objection  to  this  is  that  they  are  not  found  in  the 
neighboring  provinces,  in  which  much  the  same  reason  for  having  them  must  have  existed. 

98  See  Lasteyrie,  pp.  388-391,  for  account  of  the  latter. 


26 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Aachen,  and  the  abbey  churches  at  Essen,  Nymwegen,  and  elsewhere.  In 
any  case,  it  explains  the  system  of  two  stories  of  arches  in  the  Carolingian 
church  of  Saint  Michael  at  Fulda  (8 18-822), 69  and  in  the  early  Roman- 
esque churches  of  Vignory  (Haute-Marne)70  (eleventh  century),  Mon- 
tierender,  Haute-Marne)71  (early  eleventh  century),  and  Chatel-Montagne 
(Allier)72  (early  twelfth  century),  and  probably  also  in  Saint  Pierre  at 
Jumieges  (Seine-Inferieure)73  (cir.  940). 71 

A significant  fact  in  connecting  these  churches  which  are  wooden  roofed, 
with  the  vaulted  churches  of  Auvergne,  lies  in  their  geographical  distribu- 
tion. While  the  earliest  examples  such  as  Fulda  lie  in  the  Carolingian 
region,  the  latter  examples,  Jumieges,  Vignory  and  Montierender  lie  but 
slightly  north  of  Auvergne,  while  Chatel-Montagne  is  actually  in  this 
province.75  What  is  more  natural  to  suppose,  then,  than  that  the  vaulted 
churches  of  Auvergne  were  based  upon  these  earlier  churches,  and  that  the 
nave  arcade  in  two  stages  was  retained  even  when  both  aisles  and  nave 
were  covered  with  vaults?  Furthermore,  it  would  then  be  perfectly  natural 
that  the  builders  should  have  built  these  vaults  in  two  stories  corresponding 
to  the  two  stages  of  arches,  since  they  would  have  promptly  recognized 
the  great  advantage  gained  by  this  system,  which  stiffened  the  interior  and 
exterior  walls  for  the  added  weight  which  the  high  vaults  brought  to  bear 
upon  them,  without  injuring  to  any  extent  the  appearance  of  the  church.76 
This  seems  all  the  more  plausible  when  the  fact  is  considered  that  the 
churches  of  Auvergne  generally  have  broader  aisles  than  those  of  Poitou 
or  Provence.  This  may  also  have  been  a heritage  from  the  early  churches 
with  two-storied  arcades  and  wooden  roofs  just  mentioned,77  and  in  any 

w Rivoira,  II,  p.  283,  Fig.  727. 

70  Michel  I,  p.  444,  Fig.  208. 

71  Enlart  I,  p.  255,  Fig.  94. 

72  Lasteyrie,  p.  330,  Fig.  354. 

73  Rivoira,  II,  p.  47,  Fig.  410. 

a Other  examples  showing  extent  of  the  method  are,  Barletta  cathedral  in  Italy,  and 
Rochester  Cathedral  (twelfth  century)  in  England,  while  Rouen  and  Meaux  cathedrals 
furnish  Gothic  instances.  See  also  Enlart,  I,  p.  257,  note  1. 

76  It  is  also  worthy  of  note  as  showing  the  architectural  influence  of  Lombardy  and  the 
Rhenish  provinces  upon  Auvergne,  that  Chatel-Montagne  has  the  alternate  system  of 
supports,  a Lombard-Rhenish-Norman  characteristic  rarely  found  outside  of  these  schools. 

"This  would  also  explain  the  elevation  and  vaulting  of  the  aisles  of  Jumieges- Abbey 
church,  which  are  unlike  those  of  the  other  churches  of  Normandy  and  yet  not  truly 
Lombard  in  type.  See  p.  43. 

77  It  is  also  characteristic  of  the  churches  of  Normandy,  Bourgogne  and  the  Rhenish 
provinces,  all  more  or  less  strongly  Lombard. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


27 


case  it  further  explains  the  system  of  aisle  vaults  in  two  stories.  For, 
while  the  vaults  of  narrow  aisles  might  be  raised  a considerable  distance 
from  the  ground  without  danger  from  excessive  thrusts,  in  wide  aisles 
they  would  have  exerted  such  thrusts  and  pressures  on  piers  and  walls  as 
to  have  rendered  their  support  most  difficult,  particularly  when  they  car- 
ried directly  the  tiles  of  the  roof  as  in  Auvergne. 

The  School  of  Auvergne  continued 

As  to  the  actual  vaulting  system  of  the  Auvergnate  churches,  it  is  as 
follows.  In  the  nave,  heavy  tunnel  vaults  resembling  those  of  Provence  in 
that  they  usually  carried  the  roof.78  Otherwise  the  churches  are  more 
like  those  of  Poitou  in  the  form  of  the  piers,  the  almost  universal  absence 
of  a clerestory,  and  the  employment  of  vaults  of  semicircular  section  with 
transverse  arches,  as  in  the  early  churches  of  the  second  class  in  that 
school.  In  the  triforium,  the  builders  realized  the  advantage  gained  by 
the  use  of  a half  tunnel  vault  as  an  offset  to  the  nave  thrusts  and  as  a 
means  of  best  filling  the  space  beneath  a single  gable  roof,79  and  this  is 
therefore  the  universal  method.  At  times  this  vault  is  borne  on  full  semi- 
circular transverse  arches,80  and  at  others  on  those  which  follow  its  curve.81 
In  the  side  aisles,  groined  vaults  were  employed  because  they  were  the 
only  kind  which  could  be  built  without  cutting  into  either  the  triforium 
or  the  side  wall  windows.  In  form  they  closely  resemble  those  of  Poitou 
and  were  provided  with  transverse  arches. 

Churches  of  the  Auvergne  School 

The  church  of  Notre  Dame-du-Port  at  Clermont-Ferrand  (Puy-de- 
Dome)82  (Fig.  12)  (cir.  1100)  has  the  Auvergnate  characteristics  just 
described.  Its  great  fault  lies  in  the  darkness  of  the  interior,  a darkness 
more  pronounced  than  that  of  the  churches  of  Provence  or  Poitou  because 
of  the  width  and  lowness  of  the  aisles  with  the  consequent  distance  of  the 
lateral  windows  from  the  nave  and  the  fact  that  they  cannot  be  cut  very 


An  exception  to  this  is  to  be  seen  in  the  church  of  Champagne  (Ardeche),  see  note  29. 
"See  section  of  Saint  Saturnin  (Puy-de-Dome),  Lasteyrie,  p.  437,  Fig.  454. 

80  Clermont-Ferrand  (Puy-de-Dome),  Notre  Dame-du-Port,  Choisy,  II,  p.  230,  Fig.  30. 

Example,  Limoges  (Haute-Vienne),  Saint  Martial,  Lasteyrie,  p.  251,  Fig.  242. 

82  See  also  Issoire  (Puy-de-Dome),  Saint  Austremoine  (early  twelfth  century),  Michel, 
I,  p.  461,  Fig.  218.  Saint  Nectaire  (Puy-de-Dome)  (eleventh  century). 


28 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


high  above  the  floor.  The  windows  of  the  triforium  are  also  small,83  and 
their  light  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the  gallery  by  its  floor  and  by 
the  smallness  of  the  arches  opening  into  the  nave.  This  fault  was  rem- 


Fig.  12. — Clermont-Ferrand,  Notre  Dame-du-Port. 


edied  in  the  choir,  where  the  light  was  most  needed,  by  doing  away  with 
the  triforium,  and  placing  a clerestory  beneath  the  half  dome  of  the  apse.84 
As  a further  improvement  a lantern  was  placed  over  the  crossing.85 

In  certain  churches  of  the  school  like  Saint  Sernin  at  Toulouse  (nave 
twelfth  century),  the  triforium  was  increased  in  size,  perhaps  in  order 
that  it  might  be  used  for  congregational  purposes,  but  more  probably  be- 
cause larger  windows  were  absolutely  necessary  in  this  portion  of  the 

M Partly  because  the  half  tunnel  vault  in  this  part  of  the  church  required  a strong  and 
continuous  impost. 

**  Already  seen  in  Poitou. 

'See  discussion  of  this  form  of  crossing  on  p.  106. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


29 


church  for  the  sake  of  the  lighting.  This  theory  is  strengthened  by  the 
fact  that  Saint  Sernin  has  double  side  aisles  and  the  lateral  windows  are 
therefore  too  far  away  to  light  the  nave.  These  added  aisles  are  covered 
with  vaults  of  regular  Auvergnate  character,  even  to  the  extent  of  half 
tunnel  vaults  beneath  their  roofs,  and  the  remainder  of  the  church  cor- 
responds to  the  structural  standards  of  the  school.80 

Churches  of  Auvergne  with  a Clerestory 

Although  it  might  seem  from  the  foregoing  pages  that  the  builders  of 
Auvergne  were  very  backward  in  structural  technique,  there  are  a num- 
ber of  churches  in  the  school  which  have  a clerestory  in  the  nave.  Among 
them  is  Saint  Etienne  at  Nevers  (Nievre)87  (end  of  the  eleventh  century),88 
in  which  the  clerestory  is  obtained  by  raising  the  wall  above  the  triforium 
arches  just  high  enough  to  permit  the  introduction  of  comparatively  small 
windows  with  their  heads  rising  above  the  impost  of  the  vaults.89  The 
principle  is  the  same  as  that  in  Provence,  and  no  structural  innovation  is 
involved.  The  builders  merely  relied  upon  heavy  piers  and  walls  and 
salient  buttresses  to  bear  the  added  thrust  which  the  tunnel  vaults,  thus 
raised,  produced.  That  their  reliance  was  not  especially  well  founded  is 
proved  by  the  numerous  cracks  in  the  masonry. 

The  School  of  the  Loire 

The  introduction  of  a clerestory  in  tunnel-vaulted  churches  was  not  yet 
scientifically  accomplished,  and  it  remained  for  the  school  of  Bourgogne  to 
find  the  best  possible  solution  of  the  problem.  But  this  solution  would 
seem  to  have  been  reached  only  after  some  intermediate  steps  had  been 
taken  which  may,  perhaps,  be  traced  in  a number  of  eleventh  century 
churches.  Two  of  these  lie  slightly  to  the  north  of  Poitou  and  Auvergne 
and  strongly  reflect  the  influence  of  these  neighboring  schools.  These 
churches,  together  with  others  in  the  same  general  region,  may  perhaps 


SB  Saint  Sernin  served  as  a model  for  the  Spanish  church  of  Santiago-de-Compostella 
(eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries),  which  shows  the  extended  influence  of  Auvergne. 

“'Other  examples  are:  Chatel-Montagne  (Allier),  Ch,  Chateauneuf  (Saone-et-Loire), 
Ch.  Choisy,  II,  p.  245,  Limoges  (Haute-Vienne),  Saint  Martial,  (destroyed,  see  Enlart, 
I,  p.  256,  note  s),  without  windows  according  to  Lasteyrie  (see  Lasteyrie,  p.  251, 
Fig.  242),  Tours  (Indre-et-Loire),  Saint  Martin  (probable  system). 

83  Illustrated  in  Baum,  p.  154. 

89  See  also  Chatel-Montagne  (Allier),  Ch.,  Lasteyrie,  p.  330,  Fig.  354. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


30 

be  said  to  constitute  a school  of  Romanesque  architecture,  which  might 
properly  be  termed  the  School  of  the  Loire. 

The  first  of  these  is  the  small  church  of  Saint  Genou  (Indre).90  It  is 
a combination  of  the  types  of  Auvergne  and  Poitou  except  that  the 
tunnel  vault  of  its  choir  is  raised  on  a clerestory  wall  pierced  with  good 
sized  windows.  Its  aisles  are  in  only  one  story,  and,  instead  of  being 
groined,  are  covered  by  three-quarter  tunnel  vaults  perhaps  showing  the 
influence  of  such  Provence  churches  as  those  of  Silvacane  and  Vaison. 
The  whole  system  shows  an  advance  in  structural  skill  in  several  particu- 
lars. In  the  first  place  the  aisles  are  built  low,  and  with  columnar  piers 
close  together,  thus  insuring  the  support  of  a heavy  triforium  wall.  This 
wall  is  lightened  in  appearance  but  not  structurally  weakened,  by  a wall 
arcade  opposite  the  vaults  and  roofs  of  the  aisles,  and  is  sufficiently  thick 
at  the  clerestory  level  to  be  pierced  with  window  openings  and  still  afford 
an  excellent  impost  for  the  tunnel  vault.  This,  in  turn,  is  built  of  light 
material  like  the  vaults  of  Poitou.  With  exterior  salient  buttresses,  the 
system  is  complete.  Its  only  important  drawbacks  are  the  closeness  of  the 
supporting  piers  and  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  whole  choir  rather  low 
to  avoid  excessive  thrusts. 

The  second  church  lies  between  Saint  Genou  and  the  school  of  Bour- 
gogne. It  is  the  abbey  church  of  Saint  Benoit-sur-Loire  (Loiret),  begun 
in  1062  and  possessing  a choir,  transepts,  and  porch,  dating  from  the  sec- 
ond half  of  the  eleventh  century.  Its  choir  (Fig.  13)  closely  resembles 
that  of  Saint  Genou  in  every  particular,  except  that  the  aisles  have  full 
tunnel  vaults  and  the  church  as  a whole  is  larger  with  a much  more  lofty 
nave  of  greater  span.91  Such  a system  as  that  of  Saint  Genou  and  Saint 
Benoit  is  produced  by  the  extension  of  the  elevation  so  frequently  seen  in 
the  apses  of  the  churches  of  Poitou  and  Auvergne  to  embrace  the  sides  of 
the  choir  as  well.  The  columnar  piers  and  small  arches  used  are  like  those 
in  the  apse  rather  than  like  those  in  the  remainder  of  the  church.  The 
builders  seem,  however,  to  have  failed  to  realize  that  walls  which  would 
support  the  half  dome  of  the  apse  would  not  necessarily  prove  sufficiently 
strong  to  resist  the  thrusts  of  a tunnel  vault.  In  fact,  in  spite  of  its  ap- 
parent advance,  the  vault  of  the  choir  of  Saint  Benoit  was  only  prevented 

"Lasteyrie,  p.  338,  Fig.  360. 

"The  church  of  Fontgombault  (Indre)  (Baum,  p.  265)  is  a similar  church,  but  of 
later  date  (consecrated  1141),  which  might  be  classed  as  belonging  to  the  “Loire  school.” 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


3i 


from  falling  by  the  addition  of  transverse  arches  and  flying-buttresses  at 
a date  subsequent  to  the  completion  of  the  church,  and  the  vault  of  the 
nave  of  Cluny,  which  was  quite  possibly  similar,  actually  fell  in  1125. 


Fig.  13. — Saint  Benoit-sur-Loire,  Abbey  Church. 

It  remained  for  the  twelfth  century  builders  of  Bourgogne  to  take  the 
final  steps  which  were  to  carry  the  system  of  tunnel  vaulted  naves  with 
direct  light  to  its  highest  development. 

The  School  of  Bourgogne 

It  is  most  unfortunate  for  a study  of  the  school  of  Bourgogne  that  the 
mother  church  at  Cluny  (Saone-et-Loire)  should  have  been  almost  totally 
destroyed  in  the  French  Revolution.  This  great  church  was  begun  in  1089 
and  must  have  been  finished  in  1125,  for  the  nave  vaults  fell  in  that  year 
and  were  rebuilt  before  the  final  consecration  in  nvo.  What  its  original 
vaulting  system  was  is  difficult  to  say.  Reber93  says  that  it  was  probably 

82  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  424. 

85  Reber,  p.  351. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


vaulted  like  the  churches  of  Auvergne  with  inner  aisles  in  two  stories,  but 
Rivoira94  states  that  both  the  nave  and  aisles  had  tunnel  vaults  on  trans- 
verse pointed  arches.  The  exterior  view,95  and  the  model  which  fortu- 
nately remains,  would  correspond  with  either  arrangement.90  The  im- 
portant facts  to  note  are  that  the  nave  had  a clerestory,  and  that  the  nave 
vault  was  strengthened  on  the  exterior  by  carrying  up  the  clerestory  walls 
to  exert  a downward  pressure  at  its  haunch,  a most  important  structural 
advance  over  the  exterior  wall  of  Saint  Benoit-sur-Loire.97 

The  developed  system  of  Bourgogne  may  be  seen  to  advantage  in  the 
abbey  church  of  Paray-le-Monial  ( Saone-et-Loire)  (Figs.  14,  15),  which 
dates  from  the  early  twelfth  century  and  is  thus  only  slightly  later  than 


Fig.  14. — Paray-le-Monial,  Abbey  ‘Church. 


“Rivoira,  II,  p.  106. 

“Rivoira,  II,  p.  106,  Fig.  490. 

“The  plan  as  given  in  Guadet,  p.  265,  Fig.  1127,  shows  groined  vaults  in  both  aisles, 
and  the  portion  of  the  church  remaining  would  make  it  seem  probable  that  it  originally 
had  groined  aisles  in  one  story,  but  the  matter  is  of  little  importance  here. 

K Lasteyrie  is  of  the  opinion  that  these  walls  were  raised  to  make  it  possible  to  place 
straight  wooden  beams  across  the  church  above  the  vaults  (see  Lasteyrie,  p.  340,  and  also 
Choisv,  TI,  p.  162,  Fig.  C.),  but  even  if  this  were  one  reason,  they  also  materially  aided  by 
their  downward  pressure,  in  offsetting  the  outward  thrust. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


33 


Cluny  itself.  Its  nave  is  wider  and  loftier  than  any  yet  seen  in  which  a 
tunnel  vault  was  used,  though  not  equal  in  size  to  that  at  Cluny,  which  was 
thirty-two  feet  wide  and  ninety-eight  feet  high.  All  the  structural  arches 
are  pointed,  but  those  used  for  windows,  doors  and  decoration  are  still 
round  headed.98  The  clerestory,  while  it  has  only  moderately  large  win- 
dows, is  so  high  above  the  ground  as  to  render  the  support  of  the  vaults 
above  it  exceptionally  difficult.  This  difficulty  was  overcome,  first  by  giv- 
ing the  vault  a pointed  section  and  thus  reducing  the  thrust;  second,  by 
building  as  light  a web  as  possible  and  covering  it  with  a wooden  roof ; 
third,  by  using  tie-rods  of  wood  or  metal,  running  along  near  the  impost 
of  the  vault  in  the  thickness  of  the  walls,  thus  to  a certain  extent  con- 


Fig.  15. — Paray-le-Monial,  Abbey  Church. 


centrating  the  pressure  upon  the  piers ; and,  finally,  as  has  already  been 
stated,  by  carrying  the  exterior  walls  of  the  church  to  a point  considerably 
above  the  window  heads  (Fig.  15),  thus  obtaining  a downward  pressure 
which  offsets  the  outward  thrusts. 

98  Pointed  nave  arcade  arches  were  used  as  early  as  the  eleventh  century  in  Bourgogne 
in  such  churches  as  Farges  and  Saint  Vincent-des-Pres  (Saone-et-Loire)  ; see  Lasteyrie 
p.  428. 


34 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


The  side  aisles  of  the  school  of  Bourgogne  are  also  worthy  of  mention. 
They  are  usually  covered  with  groined  vaults,  in  many  cases  of  slightly 
domical  form.  Whether  this  method  came  directly  from  Lombardy  where 
there  exist  early  examples  of  its  use,  or  whether  it  came  in  through  the 
influence  of  Poitou  and  Auvergne  which  had  come  into  close  contact  with 
Carolingian  architecture,  is  an  open  question.  It  seems  quite  likely,  how- 
ever, that,  since  the  Byzantine  builders  developed  this  type  and  transmitted 
it  to  the  Carolingian  builders  of  the  Rhine  valley,  it  should  have  passed 
from  there  into  France  and  spread  over  the  three  northern-central  schools 
as  it  did  over  Lombardy.  Regardless  of  its  origin,  it  became  the  standard 
type  in  all  the  important  churches  of  the  Cluniac  region.  Occasionally,  as 
at  Souvigny  (Allier)  (possibly  eleventh  century),  the  enclosing  arches 
are  of  stilted  round  headed  form,  a type  which  is  also  found  as  far  north 
as  Vezelay  (Yonne)  La  Madeleine  (after  1140)  (Fig.  16).  Neither  of 
these  churches,  however,  is  near  the  center  of  the  school,"  and  the  pointed 
structural  arch  as  used  in  the  abbey- church  of  Paray-le-Monial  (Fig.  14) 
is  the  common  form. 

The  system  employed  in  Bourgogne  marks  the  highest  development  at- 
tained in  the  use  of  a tunnel  vault  running  the  length  of  the  nave.  In  the 
Ile-de-France  a few  instances  might  be  cited100  in  which  a system  like  one 
of  those  already  described  was  used,  and  the  same  is  true  of  certain 
Romanesque  churches  outside  of  France,  but  in  none  of  them  is  any  new 
structural  method  introduced.  The  tunnel  vault  was  even  used  occasionally 
as  late  as  the  thirteenth  century,101  but  the  examples  are  generally  small 
and  insignificant. 

Churches  with  Transverse  Tunnel  Vaults  Over  the  Nave 

Besides  the  methods  which  have  just  been  described  and  which  were  so 
localized  as  to  form  veritable  Romanesque  schools,  there  remain  a number 
of  churches  falling  into  two  groups  in  which  transverse  tunnel  vaults 
replace  those  running  longitudinally  either  in  the  nave  or  aisles.  The  first 
and  smaller  group  contains  those  in  which  such  vaults  were  used  over  the 
nave.  Of  these,  the  most  important  example  is  Saint  Philibert  at  Tournus 

” These  lie  along  the  line  between  Bourgogne  and  Auvergne,  and  the  influence  of  the 
latter  school  may  account  for  the  preference  shown  in  them  for  round  headed  arches. 

100  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  275. 

I0t  Azy  (Aisne),  Chapel.  Jouaignes  (Aisne),  Chapel.  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  445,  note  1. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


35 


(Saone-et-Loire),102  a church  of  considerable  size  and  of  early  date  (dedi- 
cated 1019).  Cylindrical  piers  and  transverse  arches  divide  the  nave  into 
rectangular  bays  each  of  which  is  covered  by  a transverse  tunnel  vault 
with  a window  in  the  clerestory  wall  at  either  end.  Excellent  light  is 


Fig.  16. — Vezelay,  La  Madeleine. 


thus  obtained  and  the  thrusts  of  the  vaults  admirably  counteract  one 
another.  In  fact,  the  system  is  so  logical  that  it  is  surprising  that  it  gave 
rise  to  so  few  imitators.103  The  explanation  may  perhaps  lie  in  the  lack 
of  apparent  continuity  in  the  vault,  a fault  which  this  method  shares  with 
that  of  Le  Puy.  As  to  its  origin,  it  may  go  back  to  such  Persian  monu- 
ments as  Tag-Eivan,  or  to  Syrian  copies  of  Sassanian  work  with  the  sub- 
stitution of  stone  for  brick  as  Choisy  suggests,104  though  it  is  not 

102  Enlart,  I,  p.  270,  Fig.  103,  and  Porter,  I,  p.  278. 

11,3  A few  examples  are  found,  among  them:  Mont  Saint  Vincent  (Saone-et-Loire)  Ch. 
(eleventh  century),  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  272,  and  Lasteyrie,  p.  248;  Palognieu  (Loire)  Ch. 
(twelfth  century),  Enlart,  I,  p.  272,  and  Michel,  I,  p.  475;  see  also  Enlart,  I,  p.  272,  for 
other  examples. 

m Choisy,  II,  p.  198. 


36  MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 

unreasonable  to  think  that  the  builders  of  Tournus  originated  the  system 
since  it  involved  no  unknown  structural  principles.  The  aisles  of  Saint 
Philibert  furnish  one  of  the  rather  rare  examples  of  the  employment  of 
interpenetrating  vaults.105 

Churches  with  Transverse  Tunnel  Vaults  Over  the  Aisles 

The  second  group  is  much  larger  and  more  widespread,  and  comprises 
all  the  churches  employing  transverse  tunnel  vaults  over  the  side  aisles. 
The  examples  belonging  to  the  school  of  Perigord  have  already  been  dis- 
cussed,106 and  mention  has  been  made  of  the  fact  that  there  are  possibly 
enough  of  such  churches  in  Provence  alone  to  constitute  a fifth  type  in 
that  school.107  But  the  system  is  too  widespread  to  be  attributed  to  any 
one  province.  It  is  undoubtedly  a product  of  Roman  and  very  early 
mediaeval  architecture,  for  it  is  to  be  seen  in  such  buildings  as  the  Basilica 
of  Maxentius  at  Rome,  and  in  a modified,  ramping  form  at  Aachen.108 
Its  structural  advantage  lies  in  the  large  space  which  the  tunnel  vault  af- 
fords for  windows  in  the  outer  wall  thus  lighting  both  the  nave  and  aisles. 
Among  the  many  examples  are  the  parish  church  of  Chatillon-sur-Seine 
(Cote-d'Or)109  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  abbey  churches  of  Hauterive 
(Savoie),  Ronceray110  (vaulted  in  1115),  Benevent-l’Abbaye  (Creuse),111 
and  the  cathedral  of  Lescar  (Basses-Pyrenees) in  which,  however,  the 
vaults  are  an  addition  to  a primitive  construction.112  In  the  church  at 
Fontenay  (Cote-d’Or)113  (before  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century)  con- 
cealed flying  buttresses  appear  over  the  transverse  arches  between  the 
aisle  bays,  thus  aiding  in  securing  a more  even  abutment  for  the  continuous 
thrust  of  the  tunnel  vault  of  the  nave.  A few  churches  like  Cavaillon,114 

105  See  also  Saintes  (Charente-Inferieure)  Saint  Eutrope  (Crypt  of  the  twelfth  century 
restored  in  the  thirteenth),  Enlart,  I,  p.  294,  Fig.  120  bis;  Poitiers,  Saint  Hilaire  (aisles 
added  in  the  nave),  Choisy,  II,  p.  199,  Fig.  9. 

See  p.  5. 

m See  p.  21. 

’"'This  was  also  the  original  method  of  vaulting  in  the  aisles  of  the  wooden  roofed 
basilica  church  of  Saint  Front  at  Perigueux  (cir.  988-991),  according  to  Rivoira,  II,  p.  113. 

""  Enlart,  I,  p.  271,  Fig.  104,  and  Michel,  I,  p.  475,  Fig.  236. 

Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  I,  p.  258. 

m Lasteyrie,  p.  249,  Fig.  239. 

1,3  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  248,  and  note  3. 

”3  Section  in  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  I,  p.  529. 

”4  Borrmann  and  Neuwirth,  II,  p.  163. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


37 


and  the  cathedral  of  Orange  ( Vaucluse)  ,115  have  tunnel  vaults  over  rect- 
angular bays  flanking  the  nave  but  not  connected  by  arches  to  form  side 
aisles. 

The  vaulting  of  the  ambulatory  gallery  of  Mantes  cathedral,  of  the 
aisles  of  Fountains  Abbey  in  England,  and  possibly  the  original  vaults  of 
the  aisles  of  Saint  Remi  at  Reims110  were  also  transverse  tunnel  vaults. 
These  latter  churches  differ  from  the  ones  previously  mentioned,  how- 
ever, in  that  they  are  not  tunnel  vaulted  in  the  nave  and,  moreover,  are 
constructed  with  a clerestory  so  that  the  side  aisle  vaults  do  not  serve  the 
purpose  outlined  in  the  account  of  tunnel  vaulted  churches  in  the  preced- 
ing paragraph. 

Tunnel  Vaults  with  Cross  Ribs 

This  brings  the  discussion  of  the  standard  methods  of  tunnel  vaulting  to 
a close,  but  there  remain  two  curious  churches  in  which  cross-ribs  were 
added  beneath  the  surface  of  simple  tifnnel  vaults.  One  of  these  is  at 
Lusignan  (Vienne),117  and  the  other  at  Javarzay  (Deux-Sevres).  Both 
date  from  about  1120  to  1140  though  the  ribs  may  be  a later  addition  to 
give  the  appearance  of  ribbed  vaulting  which  was  introduced  at  about 
this  time. 

Naves  with  Groined  Vaults 

Although  usually  confined  to  the  side  aisle  bays,  there  are  a few  Ro- 
manesque churches  in  which  the  builders  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  placed  groined  vaulting  over  the  nave.  The  scarcity  of  such 
examples  is  due  primarily  to  the  difficulty  of  meeting  the  severe  outward 
thrusts  of  a groined  vault  raised  over  bays  of  considerable  span  and  at  a 
point  high  above  the  ground.  In  the  side  aisles  where  the  vaults  were 
comparatively  low,  the  exterior  wall  could  be  thickened  by  salient  but- 
tresses, and  the  piers  strengthened  by  the  weight  of  the  wall  above  in  a 
manner  to  offset  the  thrust,  but  in  the  nave  the  problem  was  more  com- 
plicated. The  builders  had  not  yet  invented  the  flying  buttress.  Hence, 
when  they  attempted  groined  vaults  at  all,  they  blundered  along  trusting 
that  the  inert  mass  of  their  walls  and  such  timid  buttresses  as  could  be 

115  Enlart,  I,  p.  239. 

“‘According  to  Reber  (p.  367),  but  according  to  Rivoira  (Vol.  II,  p.  1 17)  they  were 
originally  wooden  roofed. 

111  Lasteyrie,  p.  261,  Fig.  251. 


38 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


erected  above  the  nave  piers  would  provide  sufficient  offset  for  the  thrusts 
even  though  these  were  now  concentrated  at  four  main  points  in  each 
bay.  Naturally  the  vaults  frequently  gave  way  and  had  to  be  reconstructed. 
In  spite  of  these  difficulties,  the  advantage  of  the  groined  vault  in  provid- 
ing a clerestory  whose  windows  might  rise  as  high  as  the  crown  of  the 
vault  itself  led  to  its  occasional  use. 

Groined  Vaults  Over  Rectangular  Nave  Bays 

The  vaults  thus  employed  were  of  two  rather  distinct  classes,  those  over 
rectangular  nave  bays  which  were  usually  but  little  domed  up,  and  those 
over  square  bays  which  were  generally  distinctly  domed  in  the  Byzantine 
manner.  Of  the  first  type  perhaps  the  best  known  example  is  the  Bur- 
gundian church  of  La  Madeleine  at  Vezelay  (Yonne),  (Fig.  17)  dedicated 


Fig.  17. — Vezelay,  La  Madeleine. 


in  1104.  Its  nave  is  divided  into  a series  of  rectangular  bays  by  transverse 
arches  of  semicircular  section,  and  over  each  bay  is  placed  a groined  vault 
very  slightly  domed  at  the  crown.  To  insure  the  stability  of  these  vaults, 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


39 


the  builders  relied  on  the  weight  of  the  walls,  which  were  carried  up  some- 
what above  the  window  heads,  and  on  simple  salient  buttresses.  To  these 
exterior  supports  were  added  interior  arches  half  imbedded  in  the  walls 
above  the  clerestory  windows  (Fig.  17),  furnishing  one  of  the  earliest 
examples  of  the  use  of  wall  ribs  or  formerets.  The  web  of  the  vault  does 
not,  however,  follow  their  extrados,  but  gradually  breaks  away  from  it 
toward  the  crown,  with  the  apparent  object  of  thus  concentrating  even 
more  pressure  upon  the  piers  by  stilting  the  wall  line  of  the  vault  surface.118 
Even  these  precautions  were  not  deemed  sufficient,  so  iron  tie-rods  were 
employed,  but  these  rusted  and  broke,119  the  vaults  settled  badly,120  and 
if  it  had  not  been  for  the  addition  of  exterior  flying  buttresses,  which  had 
meanwhile  come  into  general  use,  the  vaults  would  most  certainly  have 
fallen.  Although  not  a structural  success,  Vezelay  did  prove  of  advantage 
in  turning  the  builders  away  from  the  tunnel  vault, — and  this,  too,  in 
Bourgogne  where  it  had  been  most  highly  developed, — to  a new  type  which 
presented  problems  whose  solution  was  to  lead  to  Gothic  architecture. 
Vezelay  was,  however,  but  little  imitated  in  the  Romanesque  era,  perhaps 
because  of  the  almost  contemporary  development  of  the  ribbed  vault  in 
Lombardy,  Normandy,  and  the  Ile-de-France.  A few  churches,  such  as 
Anzv-le-Duc  (Saone-et-Loire)121  did  employ  groined  vaults  over  the  nave 
but  on  a smaller  scale  and  frequently  with  more  pronounced  doming. 

A more  important  and  independent  group  of  groined  vaulted  churches  is 
to  be  found  in  Normandy.  In  this  school,  the  churches  were  usually 
covered  with  wooden  roofs  though  the  aisles  were  occasionally  groined. 
But  there  are  three  churches  in  which  the  choir  also  has  groined  vaults. 
These  are,  La  Trinite  or  the  Abbaye-aux-Dames  at  Caen  (Calvados)  (cir. 
1066),  Saint  Nicolas  at  Caen  (cir.  1080),  and  Saint  Georges-de-Boscher- 
ville  at  Saint  Martin-de-Boscherville  (Seine-Inferieure)  (late  eleventh  and 
early  twelfth  century).  The  choir  of  the  third  of  these  churches,  though 
later  in  date  than  the  others,  is  more  primitive  in  type,  for  it  is  covered 
by  interpenetrating  vaults,  in  which,  however,  the  deep  lunettes  above  the 

1U  Common  to  many  transitional  vaulting  systems.  See  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and 
Gothic  Vaults,  pp.  12-14. 

119  Viollet-le-Duc,  IV,  p.  26. 

““This  can  be  seen  by  a glance  at  the  transverse  arches  as  shown  in  Fig.  17. 

“See  Lasteyrie,  p.  427.  Other  examples  are:  Pontaubert  (Yonne)  Ch.,  Enlart,  I, 

p.  277,  Figs.  109-110;  Gourdon  (Saone-et-Loire)  Ch.,  Lasteyrie,  p.  255,  Fig.  246;  Toulon- 
sur-Arroux  (Saone-et-Loire)  Ch.  Bragny-en-Charollais  (Saone-et-Loire)  Ch. 


40 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


windows  rise  so  nearly  to  the  crown  that  the  result  resembles  groined 
rather  than  tunnel  vaulting. 

In  both  the  other  examples  true  groined  vaulting  is  used,  but  at  La 
Trinite  it  is  in  practically  square  bays,  and  carried  by  walls  running  down 
to  the  ground,122  making  it  easier  of  construction  than  that  at  Saint  Nico- 
las123 where  the  bays  are  rectangular  and  the  choir  has  true  side  aisles. 
This  church  is  similar  in  structural  principles  to  La  Madeleine  at  Vezelay — 
except  that  the  wall  ribs  are  omitted,' — and  these  two  churches  may  be 
said  to  represent  the  highest  point  reached  by  groined  vaulting  with  prac- 
tically flat  crowns  during  the  Romanesque  period. 

Other  examples  might  be  cited,  ranging  from  such  an  unusual  church 
as  Saint  Loup-de-Naud  (Seine-et-Marne)  in  the  Ile-de-France, — which  is 
of  uncertain  date,124 — to  churches  as  late  as  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries,  among  which  are  Severac-le-Chateau  (Aveyron)  and  Saint 
Pons-de-Mauchiens  (Herault).123  Occasionally,  also,  groined  vaults  were 
used  in  the  crypt  as  at  Saintes  (Charente-Inferieure),120  even  when  tunnel 
vaults  were  used  in  the  upper  part  of  the  church,  a peculiarity  explained  by 
the  fact  that  underground  it  was  easy  to  dispose  of  the  thrusts  which 
could  not  so  readily  be  offset  in  the  nave. 

The  question  of  the  origin  of  the  method  has  frequently  arisen  and  a 
number  of  writers,  including  Choisy,127  suggest  the  East  as  a possible 
cradle  of  the  style  because  of  the  numerous  churches  in  Palestine  thus 
vaulted,  but  Rivoira128  shows  rather  conclusively  that  it  was  the  Cluny 
influence  which  carried  the  method  to  the  East  rather  than  the  reverse,  a 
theory  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  earliest  example  there,  which  is 
the  church  of  Saint  Anne  at  Jerusalem,129  would  seem  to  be  after  rather 
than  before  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century.130  Moreover  it  is  quite 
reasonable  to  attribute  the  development  of  this  advanced  type  of  vault  to 

UJ  The  side  aisles  of  La  Trinite  are  shut  off  from  the  choir  and  covered  with  tunnel 
vaults,  a method  which  is  sometimes  found  in  this  school.  See  Ruprich-Robert,  I,  p.  61. 

,z‘  Bond,  p.  293. 

121  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  540. 

See  Enlart,  I,  p.  445,  note  2. 

™ Choisy,  II,  p.  206,  Fig.  14. 

,2'  See  Choisy,  II,  pp.  220-222. 

IS,Sce  Rivoira,  II,  p.  122. 

129  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  I,  p.  414. 

rM  See  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  I,  p.  415. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


4i 


the  builders  of  Bourgogne  themselves,  for  they  were  surely  progressive 
enough  to  have  taken  such  a step. 

Groined  Vaults  over  Square  Nave  Bays 

Churches  with  groined  vaults  over  square  nave  bays  are  much  more 
numerous  than  those  with  rectangular  bays,  just  described.  The  most 
important  of  these  belong  to  the  school  of  the  Rhenish  Provinces,  which 
had,  perhaps,  clung  to  Byzantine  and  Carolingian  traditions  in  this  respect. 
As  a rule  the  large  churches  of  this  school  were  originally  planned  for 
vaulting  only  in  the  side  aisles.131  These  were  usually  divided  into  square 
bays  by  round  headed  transverse  arches,  and  then  each  bay  covered  by  a 
more  or  less  domed  up  groined  vault,  which,  from  its  size  and  form,  might 
be  erected  with  comparatively  little  centering.132  There  was  no  triforium 
gallery,  but  a wall  with  blank  arches  took  its  place  beneath  the  clerestory 
windows.  In  many  of  the  churches133  shafts  were  carried  up  on  the  inner 
face  of  alternate  nave  piers,  probably  to  support  the  cross  beams  of  the 
roof,  or  possibly  to  carry  transverse  arches,  but  not  to  carry  vaulting. 

By  the  early  twelfth  century,  after  numerous  fires  had  played  havoc 
with  the  churches,  the  Rhenish  builders  seem  to  have  at  last  made  an 
effort  to  replace  the  wooden  roofs  with  vaults.  In  doing  this,  they  sought 
a form  of  vault  which  would  exert  as  little  as  possible  of  outward  thrust 
and  thus  be  stable  at  the  considerable  height  at  which  it  must  be  placed. 
The  Lombard  builders  had  by  this  time  developed  the  domed  up  cross- 
ribbed  vault,  but,  as  has  been  admirably  shown  by  Porter,134  the  ribs  which 
they  employed  had  for  their  sole  purpose  the  saving  of  wooden  centering, 
since  the  masonry  of  the  vault  proper  was  heavy  enough  to  stand  without 
their  aid.  It  was  natural  then  for  the  Rhenish  builders,  who  copied  their 
neighbors  in  Lombardy  in  many  particulars,135  to  look  to  them  for  a 
method  of  vault  construction,  which  they  found  in  domed  up  vaults 
like  those  of  Rivolta-d’Adda  (1088-1099)  or  Sant’Ambrogio  at  Milan 

1S1  The  abbey  church  of  Laach  (begun  in  1093  but  work  neglected  somewhat  until  its  re- 
sumption in  1 1 12)  is  an  exception,  having  been  planned  from  the  ground  for  vaulting. 
This  is  not  of  domed-up  type,  but  seems  to  have  been  inspired  directly  by  that  of  Vezelay. 
See  Rivoira,  II,  pp.  330-331  and  Fig.  781. 

132  See  Laach,  Abbey  Ch.  south  aisle  in  Rivoira,  II,  p.  328,  Fig.  777. 

1M  Mainz,  Speyer,  etc. 

134  See  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults. 

1<B  Alternate  piers,  eaves-galleries,  etc. 


42 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


(cir.  1098).  These  the  Rhenish  builders  chose  as  models,  but  being  plen- 
tifully supplied  with  wood  for  centering,  it  would  seem  as  if  they  pur- 
posely did  not  adopt  the  diagonal  ribs,  but  built  groined  vaults  of  simple 
domed  up  type,  placing  them  over  square  nave  bays  each  corresponding 
to  two  aisle  bays  in  the  true  Lombard  manner.  This  system  may  be  seen 
to  advantage  in  the  cathedral  of  Speyer136  (probably  vaulted  cir.  1137- 
1140).  With  extremely  heavy  walls  like  those  of  the  Rhenish  churches, 
and  with  good  masonry  for  their  construction,  such  vaults  proved  com- 
paratively safe  even  over  naves  of  such  a span  as  that  of  Speyer  which  is 
almost  fifty  feet  in  width. 

This  account  of  the  Rhenish  school  completes  the  discussion  of  groined 
vaulting  as  applied  to  the  naves  and  choirs  of  Romanesque  churches.  The 
heavy  walls  and  the  general  excellence  of  masonry  construction  which 
they  required,  together  with  the  necessity  for  large  interior  piers,  did  not 
render  them  popular  or  widely  used. 

Aisles  with  Groined  Vaults  in  Lombardy  and  Normandy 

That  the  use  of  groined  vaults  was  far  more  extensive  in  the  aisles 
than  in  the  naves  of  Romanesque  churches  has  already  been  shown  by  the 
examples  cited  from  the  schools  of  Poitou,  Auvergne,  Bourgogne,  and 
elsewhere.  To  these  should  be  added  a number  of  churches,  chiefly  of  the 
schools  of  Lombardy  and  Normandy,  which  have  groined  aisles  in  com- 
bination with  rib  vaulted  or  wooden  roofed  naves.  In  Lombardy,  where 
the  naves  are  ribbed,  this  combination  has  been  admirably  explained  by 
Porter137  in  connection  with  the  use  ofi  wood  for  centering.  Thus  he  shows 
that  groined  vaults,  provided  that  they  were  sufficiently  domed  up,  could 
be  built  over  the  small  bays  of  the  aisles  and  triforia  with  almost  no  wooden 
framework,  but  that  when  such  vaults  were  attempted  in  the  nave  the  bays 
were  so  large  as  to  require  a considerable  amount  of  centering  beneath  the 
vault,  and  therefore  the  builders  substituted  permanent  diagonal  arches  of 
very  heavy  character. 

The  Norman  groined  aisles  are,  however,  of  a different  sort,  for 
they  either  have  level  crowns  or  are  but  slightly  domed  up  in  type.138 

’ See  also  Cologne,  Saint  Maurice  (before  1144)  Lasteyrie,  p.  518;  Brauveiller;  Gueb- 
viller;  Rosheim ; Schlestadt;  Saint  Die.  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  279,  note  2. 

,!I  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  pp.  20-21. 

,a,See  aisles  of  Bernay  (Eure),  Abbey  Ch.,  Ruprich-Robert,  I,  p.  61. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


43 


The  abbey  church  of  Jumieges  (Seine-Inferieure)  (1040-1067)  is  among 
the  earliest  examples  of  this  construction  and  is  the  only  Norman  church 
with  groined  vaults  in  both  the  aisles  and  triforium.139  La  Trinite 
at  Caen140  and  the  abbey  church  of  Lessay  (Manche)141  are  also  Norman 
churches  with  groined  aisles,  in  both  cases  with  level  crowns.  In  La 
Trinite,  as  in  the  early  churches  of  Poitou,  the  bays  are  not  even  separated 
by  transverse  arches.142  In  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen,  and  in  the  choir  of  the 
cathedral  of  Gloucester,  the  aisles  are  vaulted  in  both  stories  like  those  of 
Auvergne,  the  lower  groined,  the  triforia  with  half  tunnel  vaults,  but  it 
seems  very  probable  that  these  latter  were  added  only  when  vaulting  took 
the  place  of  the  wooden  roof  in  the  central  portions  of  the  church.143 

Curious  instances  of  the  persistence  of  groined  vaulting  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  triforia  of  such  transitional  churches  as  Saint  Germer-de-Lly 
(Oise)144  and  Vezelay,  where  the  remaining  portions  of  the  church  have 
ribbed  vaults.  Lor  this  persistence  an  explanation  is  later  attempted.145 

Aisles  with  Semi-Groined  Vaults 

An  unusual  form  of  aisle  vault  appears  at  Creully  (Calvados)146 
(twelfth  century),  where  the  aisles  are  covered  with  a half  tunnel  vault 
intersected  toward  the  outer  wall  by  lunettes,  which  thus  convert  it  into 
a semi-groined  vault.  Its  obvious  advantage  lies  in  the  combination  of 
inward  pressure,  which  it  exerts  in  support  of  the  nave  vaults,  with  the 
added  window  space  which  it  affords  without  increasing  the  height  of 
the  exterior  walls. 

Ribbed  Vaults 

The  introduction  of  ribs  beneath  the  diagonal  intersections  of  groined 
vaulting  gradually  brought  about  a revolution  in  Mediaeval  building,  and 
transformed  the  massiveness  of  Romanesque  construction  into  the  light 

139  Although  this  arrangement  would  seem  to  reflect  Lombard  influence,  the  form  of 
the  triforia  and  of  the  vaults  is  much  more  like  those  of  Auvergne. 

140  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  293. 

141  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  293. 

142  See  also  the  aisles  of  Bernay  choir  in  Ruprich-Robert,  I,  p.  61. 

143  In  St.  Ltienne  at  least.  Gloucester  cathedral  may  or  may  not  have  been  vaulted 
before  the  transformation  of  its  interior  from  Romanesque  to  Perpendicular  Gothic. 

141  See  Fig.  63. 

14S  See  p.  101,  102. 

14a  Ruprich-Robert,  pi.  LXXXVII. 


44 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


and  graceful  architecture  of  the  Gothic  era.  Much  has  been  written  in 
an  effort  to  discover  the  origin  of  the  new  system.  It  is  not,  however,  the 
intention  here  to  add  to  the  number  of  theories  advanced,  except  in  an 
incidental  manner,  but  rather  to  classify  the  various  forms  of  ribbed 
vaulting  as  applied  to  naves,  choirs,  and  aisles  of  the  churches  following 
immediately  after  those  of  the  Romanesque  period  which  have  just  been 
described.  As  a geographical  basis  is  no  longer  practical  for  such  a 
classification,  because  of  the  widespread  distribution  of  the  new  method 
of  construction,  a structural  basis  will  be  substituted,  and  the  vaults  will 
be  divided  into  two  major  groups  according  as  they  were  used  over  square 
or  rectangular  nave  bays,  and  then  subdivided  according  to  their  minor 
characteristics. 

Ribbed  Vaults  Over  Naves  with  Square  Bays 

Lombardy  affords  the  first  examples  of  ribbed  vaults  over  nave  bays  of 
square  plan.  According  to  Rivoira147  the  earliest  are  in  the  church  of 
Santa  Maria  e San  Sigismondo  at  Rivolta  d’Adda148  (before  1099), 
though  this  was  closely  followed  by  the  more  important  church  of  Sant’ 
Ambrogio  at  Milan  (between  1088-1128)  (Fig.  18),  which  furnishes  an 
admirable  example  of  the  Lombard  type.  Its  nave  is  divided  into  four 
great  square  bays,  each  corresponding  to  two  bays  in  the  side  aisles. 
(Plate  I-a.)  Of  these  the  eastern  bay  is  treated  as  a crossing  and  covered 
by  a dome  above  a lantern  on  squinches,  but  the  remaining  three  have 
four-part  domed  up  vaults  with  heavy  ribs  of  square  section,  used  not 
only  transversely  and  along  the  walls  but  also  diagonally,  thus  forming  a 
complete  system  or  skeleton  of  arches  beneath  the  vault  surface  in  the 
manner  of  true  Gothic  architecture.  But  there  are  many  reasons  to  be- 
lieve with  Porter149  that  the  builders  of  Lombardy  employed  these  ribs 
purely  as  a permanent  centering  of  masonry, — which  was  less  expensive 
than  a temporary  centering  of  wood  in  a country  where  the  latter  ma- 
terial was  very  scarce, — and  that  they  failed  to  appreciate  the  fact  that 
such  ribs  made  possible  a great  reduction  in  the  weight  of  the  panels,  or 
web.  of  the  vault,  and  in  other  ways  could  be  made  to  aid  in  reducing  and 
concentrating  its  pressures.  The  masonry  of  the  vault  is  still  excessively 

1,1  Rivoira,  I,  p.  225. 

"’Rivoira,  I,  p.  224,  Figs.  330,  331. 

Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vault. 


PLATE  I 


1 


P 


46 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


thick, — between  sixteen  and  twenty  inches, — and  would  stand  equally  well 
were  the  ribs  removed.  Moreover  its  thrust  is  so  great  that  the  builders 
dared  not  raise  its  imposts  sufficiently  high  to  admit  of  a clerestory  beneath 
the  formerets,  and  instead  of  rendering  possible  a lighter  construction  as 
Gothic  vaults  were  destined  to  do,  these  vaults  of  Saint’ Ambrogio  re- 


Fig.  i 8. — Milan,  Sant’  Ambrogio. 


quired  for  their  support  a wall  forty  inches  thick  and  ramping  walls  above 
the  transverse  arches  of  the  triforium  together  with  interior  tie-rods  and 
wooden  chains  in  the  masonry150  to  offset  their  severe  outward  thrust. 
All  these  facts  show  that  the  Lombard  vaults  are  still  fundamentally 
Romanesque  in  type.  Even  in  San  Michele  at  Pavia  (early  twelfth  cen- 
tury), where  the  system  was  a little  more  developed,  in  that  a small 
clerestory  was  introduced,  the  principles  were  still  the  same  as  in  Milan. 
As  a matter  of  fact,  the  Lombard  builders  never  made  any  further  ad- 
vance in  the  handling  of  ribbed  vaults,  and  even  went  backward  rather 
than  forward.  For  the  builders  found  that  groined  vaults  of  domed  up 
type  could  be  built  so  lightly  as  to  require  but  little  centering,  and  a return 

Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Caults,  p.  22. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


47 


to  this  simple  form  was  made  in  such  churches  as  San  Lanfranco  at 
Pavia.151  Later  on,  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  Lrench 
methods  of  ribbed  vaulting  were  introduced,  but  throughout  the  whole 
period  of  Lombard  supremacy  the  tendency  was  to  avoid  vaulting  entirely, 
and  when  adopted,  it  was  of  the  heavy  character  just  described. 

The  System  of  Alternate  Supports 

The  Lombard  churches  are  important  in  the  present  connection,  how- 
ever, because  of  the  method  in  which  they  are  divided  into  vaulting  bays. 
They  furnish  the  earliest  examples  of  the  system  of  alternate  light  and 
heavy  supports,— employed  according  to  Cattaneo152  as  early  as  985  in 
the  three  original  bays  of  SS.  Lelice  e Lortunato  at  Vicenza.  This  system 
of  piers  with  alternate  transverse  arches  produces  one  square133  bay  in  the 
nave  to  two  square  bays  in  the  side  aisles,  and  it  occurs  not  only  in  vaulted 
chufches  but  also  in  others  in  which  a wooden  roof  rests  upon  these  trans- 
verse supports.154  Its  advantage  in  the  vaulted  churches  is  particularly 
important,  however,  and  of  a two-fold  character.  In  the  first  place,  it 
renders  the  four  enclosing  arches  uniform,  and  it  makes  them  as  nearly 
as  possible  of  equal  span  with  the  diagonals.155  And  in  the  second,  it 
saves  a considerable  amount  of  centering  by  rendering  possible  the  con- 
struction of  a vault  covering  a space  corresponding  to  two  rectangular 
bays  on  four  instead  of  seven  ribs.156 

Outside  of  Lombardy,  the  four-part  cross-ribbed  vault  over  square  nave 
bays  was  but  seldom  employed  in  churches  with  side  aisles  also  divided  into 
square  compartments.  It  appears,  however,  in  the  cathedral  of  Le  Mans, 
(Sarthe)  (middle  of  the  twelfth  century),  where  it  would  seem  to  be  due  to 
the  influence  of  the  neighboring  single  aisled  churches  of  Anjou, — which 

101  Porter,  'Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  p.  23. 

152  See  Cattaneo,  p.  227. 

The  word  square  is  used  to  denote  bays  which  are  approximately  as  well  as  actually 
equilateral. 

See  list  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  264  note  2 and  note  3.  Examples  of  transverse  arches  of 
earlier  date  exist  in  Syrian  and  Early  Christian  architecture,  but  not  with  a regular  alter- 
nate system. 

1,r'6  This  was  especially  important  to  the  Lombard  builders,  who  always  preferred  the 
semicircular  arch,  which  could  thus  be  employed  for  all  six  ribs  of  the  vault  and  would 
cause  the  crown  to  be  domed  up  just  high  enough  to  permit  the  construction  of  the  entire 
vault  by  means  of  a simple  centering  from  rib  to  rib.  See  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and 
Gothic  Vaults. 

160  See  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults. 


48 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


are  later  discussed,' — and  it  was  frequently  used  in  reconstructing  the  vaults 
of  the  Rhenish  school.  In  the  Gothic  period  also,  the  system  occasionally 
appears  in  a modified  form,  and  naturally  enough  these  revivals  occur 
where  Norman  and  Rhenish  Romanesque  had  caused  the  principles  of 
Lombard  architecture  to  be  strongly  entrenched.  Thus  the  church  of 
Saint  Legerius  at  Gebweiler15T(cir.  1182-1200)  furnishes  a Rhenish,  and  the 
choir  of  Boxgrove  Priory  church  (cir.  1235),  an  English  application  of 
this  method.  In  the  latter,  the  vaults  are  no  longer  highly  domed  up,  and 
are  therefore  far  removed  from  their  Lombard  prototypes,  only  the  gen- 
eral division  of  the  church  reflecting  this  influence. 

Naves  without  Side  Aisles 

More  important  by  far,  are  the  churches  without  side  aisles  but  with 
naves  in  square  bays  with  four  part  cross-ribbed  vaults.  This  method  is- 
to  be  seen  in  the  cathedral  of  Frejus  (Var),158  which  is  considered  by 
Porter159  to  exhibit  the  earliest  extant  ribbed  nave  vaults  in  France.  These 
are  distinctly  of  Lombard  type,  and  would  seem  to  show  a strong  Lombard 
influence  entering  France  from  the  south.  It  may  possibly  be  that  this 
same  influence  followed  the  route  taken  earlier  by  the  dome  on  pendentives, 
and  thus  gave  rise  to  the  domed  up  ribbed  vault  so  common  in  the  churches 
of  Anjou.160  Of  these  latter,  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Maurice  at  Angers 
(Maine-et-Loire)  (Fig.  19),  presents  perhaps  the  best  existing  example. 
Its  nave  vaults  which  date  from  as  early  as  H50161  are  among  the  largest 
and  finest  in  France,  having  a span  of  some  fifty-six  feet.  As  in  Lom- 
bardy, the  crown  is  highly  domed  up  while  to  facilitate  the  construction  of 
the  web  of  the  vault  with  the  least  possible  centering,  pointed  diagonals 
and  enclosing  arches  are  employed.  By  this  means  the  entire  vault  was 
constructed  on  the  ribs  with  no  centering  at  all  for  the  lower  courses,  and 
a simple  ccrce,  a device  consisting  of  two  curved  boards  sliding  along 

157  Illustrated  in  M.  H. 

158  Illustrated  in  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Fig.  19. 

im  See  Porter,  Cons  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  p.  13. 

300  Examples  include:  Laval  (Mayenne),  La  Trinite;  LeMans  (Sarthe),  La  Couture; 
Poitiers  (Vienne),  Cath.  (portion)  ; Poitiers,  Sainte  Radegonde;  Brantome  (Dordogne), 
Ch.;  Lucheux  (Somme),  Ch. ; Airaines  (Somme),  Notre  Dame. 

m They  are,  perhaps,  the  earliest  of  the  Anjou  group.  Enlart  (Vol.  I,  pp.  435,  note  1 
and  445,  note  1)  gives  an  earlier  date  for  Lucheux  and  Airaines,  but  the  appearance  of 
their  vaults  does  not  seem  to  bear  out  this  assertion. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


49 


each  other,  for  those  near  the  crown.  At  the  same  time  the  outward 
thrusts  were  greatly  reduced  by  the  pointed  section  of  the  vault. 

Anjou  Ridge  Ribs 

Since  the  Anjou  churches  possessed  naves  of  wide  span,  it  is  not  sur- 
prising to  find  that  their  builders  soon  added  ridge  ribs  beneath  the  vault. 


Fig.  19. — Angers,  Cathedral. 


That  these  were  not  mere  cover- joints  to  conceal  an  irregular  intersection 
of  the  masonry,  as  Choisy  suggests,162  would  seem  to  be  proved  by  the 
fact  that  the  courses  meet  in  a straight  line  at  the  ridge  in  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  Anjou  churches  in  which  they  are  employed, — for  ex- 
ample in  La  Couture  at  Le  Mans  (Fig.  20),  Airaines,163  and  numerous 
churches  with  small  torus  ribs,  as  well  as  by  the  fact  that  such  ridge  ribs 
are  sometimes  omitted  even  when  the  masonry  is  laid  up  in  courses  of 
equal  width  and  therefore  interpenetrating  at  the  ridge,  as  in  Avesnieres 

162  See  Choisy,  II,  p.  277  and  p.  276,  Fig.  8 — A.  P>.  C. 

lra  Enlart,  I,  p.  437,  Fig.  205. 


5° 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


(Mayenne)164  near  Laval.  If  not,  however,  primarily  a cover-joint,  these 
ribs  did  at  least,  possess  both  a structural  and  decorative  quality.  In  the 
first  place  they  helped  to  keep  the  keystone  of  the  diagonals  rigidly  fixed 
during  the  building  process,  and  furthermore,  they  gave  an  absolutely 


Fig.  20. — LeMans,  Notre  Dame-de-la-Couture. 


straight  line  to  the  vault  crown  which  was  always  difficult  to  adjust,  par- 
ticularly in  a vault  of  large  size.  One  of  the  best  and  earliest  examples  of 
the  employment  of  such  ribs  appears  in  the  nave  of  Notre  Dame-de-la- 
Couture  at  Le  Mans  (Fig.  20)  which  dates  from  about  1200,  and  a later 
example  is  afforded  by  the  church  of  Saint- Avit-Senieur  (Dordogne),160 
where  the  vaults  are  of  the  thirteenth  century  and  replace  an  original 
series  of  domes  on  pendentives  of  true  Perigord  type. 

In  all  of  the  Anjou  vaults  thus  far  discussed,  the  ribs  are  of  compara- 
tively heavy  section  and  placed  entirely  beneath  the  vault  surface,  but 

104  Enlart,  I,  p.  444,  Fig.  210.  See  also  p.  446,  note  1. 
m Lasteyrie,  p.  474,  Fig.  490. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


51 


there  was  to  be  a decided  change  in  the  thirteenth  century.  It  has  already 
been  noted  that  domed  up  vaults  could  be  erected  almost  without  centering 
and  exerted  little  if  any  pressure  upon  the  ribs  beneath  them.  Realizing 
this,  the  builders  of  Anjou  soon  began  to  reduce  the  size  of  the  ribs  until 
they  became  little  more  than  torus  mouldings  running  along  the  groin  and 
ridge  of  the  vault.  As  an  actual  fact,  however,  these  torus  mouldings 
were  carved  upon  a sunken  rib  flush  with  the  surface  of  the  panel,  which, 
if  it  no  longer  furnished  a support  for  the  vault,  at  least  formed  a sort 
of  permanent  centering  dividing  the  surface  to  be  vaulted  into  distinct 
severies  and  marking  the  line  of  their  intersection  in  an  absolutely  correct 
curve.  Such  vaults  are  closely  allied  to  those  of  groined  type,  the  ribs  play- 
ing practically  the  same  part  as  those  of  brick  in  Roman  concrete  vaulting. 
Since,  however,  in  the  Anjou  system  the  ribs  always  were  merely  a perma- 
nent centering  which  could  easily  be  removed  without  destroying  the  vault, 
a sunken  centering  was  quite  as  efficient  in  serving  the  purpose  of  vault 
division  while  the  torus  afforded  a certain  amount  of  surface  decoration. 

Of  this  typical  Anjou  construction,  there  are  numerous  examples.  At 
Poitiers,  in  the  church  of  Sainte  Radegonde  the  ribs  are  of  reduced  size 
but  not  quite  flush  with  the  vault  surface  and  the  same  is  true  at  Saint- 
Hilaire — Saint-Florent  near  Saumur  (Marne-et-Loire),166  while  the  choir 
and  transept  of  Angers  cathedral  (Fig.  19),  and  the  later  bays  of  the 
cathedral  of  Poitiers  furnish  examples  of  the  standard  type.  After  a 
short  period  of  experiment,  the  builders  of  Anjou  became  very  skillful  in 
the  construction  of  these  ribs  and  vaults  and  frequently  employed  them 
over  bays  of  unusual  plan  and  elevation  as,  for  example,  in  the  chapel 
north  of  the  choir  aisle  in  Saint  Serge  at  Angers  (Fig.  21). 

An  instance  of  the  influence  of  Anjou  construction  upon  the  neighboring 
territory,  as  well  as  of  the  relationship  between  this  Gothic  style  and  the 
Romanesque  school  of  Perigord,  may  perhaps  be  seen  in  the  Old  Cathedral 
of  Salamanca  in  Spain.10'  Here  the  three  western  bays  of  the  nave  are 
covered  with  ordinary  domes  but  with  diagonal  ribs  beneath  them,  while 
the  two  remaining  bays  have  regular  domed  up  Anjou  vaults.  The  date 
of  this  cathedral,  cir.  1120-1178,  may,  perhaps,  explain  this  peculiar  com- 
bination as  being’  due  to  an  Anjou-Gothic  influence  displacing  one  of 


166  111.  in  Bond,  p.  328,  Fig.  4. 

167  See  Street,  p.  80,  and  Fig.  7,  opp.  same. 


52 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Perigord-Romanesque,  in  much  the  same  manner  as  such  an  influence  dis- 
placed the  Perigord-Romanesque  architecture  of  western  France. 

Square  Nave  Bays  Outside  of  Lombardy  and  Anjou 

Besides  its  use  in  Lombardy  and  Anjou,  the  square  nave  bay  with 
four  part  cross-ribbed  vaults,  was  employed  to  some  extent  in  other  parts 


Fig.  2i. — Angers,  Saint  Serge. 


of  Europe  throughout  the  Gothic  period.168  Some  of  these  are  churches 
without  side  aisles,  but  aisles  are  more  commonly  found,  divided  into 
rectangular  bays  corresponding  in  number  to  those  of  the  nave.  Of  the 
single  naved  churches,  San  Francesco  at  Assisi,169  is  a good  example. 
Although  dating  from  1236-1259,  its  vault  ribs  are  still  heavy  and  almost 
square  in  section,  as  if  derived  from  Lombard  prototypes.  But  they  dif- 
fer in  being  of  pointed  section  and  in  not  giving  to  the  vaults  a domed 
up  crown.  In  this  they  would  seem  to  be  examples  of  French  influence 
upon  Lombard  tradition. 

Square  Nave  and  Rectangular  Aisle  Bays 
An  early  church  with  square  nave  bays  and  ribbed  vaults  over  rectangu- 
lar bays  in  the  side  aisles  (Plate  I-b),  is  to  be  found  at  Bury  (Oise)  (Fig. 

1M  Examples  could  be  cited  in  Belgium,  Holland,  Norway,  Spain,  etc.,  in  fact,  wherever 
Lombard,  Rhenish  or  Anjou  influence  was  strong. 

’“See  also  Milan,  S.  Nazzaro.  Cummings,  I,  p.  116. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


53 


22).  It  probably  dates  from  about  1125,  and  is  an  important  monument 
of  the  Transitional  period.  Its  nave  vaults  are  quite  highly  domed  and  in 
this  respect  seem  somewhat  Lombard,  but  their  pointed  arches  and  awk- 


Fig.  22. — Bury,  Church. 


ward  construction  indicate  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  builders  toward 
reducing  this  doming  and  a dawning  consciousness  of  the  value  of  the 
pointed  arch  in  the  construction  of  ribbed  vaults.  This  is  further  shown 
in  the  side  aisles.  Because  of  the  rectangular  shape  of  the  bays,  the 
problem  was  presented  of  getting  three  sets  of  ribs  of  different  span  to 
rise  to  the  same  or  practically  the  same  height.  Not  being  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  flexibility  of  the  pointed  rib,  the  builders  at  Bury  were, 
naturally  somewhat  clumsy  in  its  use.  Thus,  the  diagonals  were  made 
segmental  in  elevation  to  lower  them  to  the  level  of  the  pier  arches,  while 


54 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


masonry  was  piled  on  the  crown  of  the  transverse  ribs,  or  their  voussoirs 
widened,  to  bring  them  up  to  the  level  of  the  vault  panel.170  A few  such 
experimental  steps  as  these  at  Bury,  were  all  that  were  necessary  to  give 
the  builders  a mastery  of  the  use  of  the  pointed  arch  in  ribbed  vaulting. 

Ribs  with  Caryatid  Supports 

But  there  is  another  feature  of  the  side  aisle  vaults  which  is  worthy  of 
note  before  turning  to  the  more  developed  churches  which  resemble  Bury 


Fig.  23. — Bury,  Church. 


in  their  arrangement  of  vaulting  bays.  This  is  the  use  of  small  caryatid 
figures  which  appear  at  the  springing  of  the  diagonal  ribs  (Fig.  23). 171 
These  would  seem  to  serve  a purely  decorative  purpose,  perhaps  to  distract 
attention  from  the  great  size  of  the  ribs  behind  them,  or  to  give  an 

’"’Similar  building-up  of  the  arches  may  be  seen  in  the  nave  at  Bury  (Fig.  22),  and 
in  the  narthex  of  St.  Leu  d’Esserent  (Oise).  See  Moore,  p.  68  and  p.  69,  Fig.  24. 

’"Very  interesting  examples  occur  also  at  Saint  Aignan  (Loire-et-Cher),  Ch. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING  55 

apparent  lightness  to  the  vault  itself  by  seemingly  placing'  its  burden  upon 
such  insignificant  shoulders,  or  more  probably  still,  the  figures  served  to 
break  the  transition  from  shaft  to  rib  by  concealing  the  impost  of  the 
latter.  Whatever  their  explanation,  other  examples  besides  those  at  Bury 
are  to  be  seen.  Of  these,  the  angels — now  badly  mutilated — at  the  base 
of  the  ribs  in  the  narthex  of  Saint  Ours  at  Loches  (Indre-et-Loire)  (Fig 
24) 172  are  especially  interesting,  and  perhaps  account  for  the  tiny  figures 


Fig.  24. — Loches,  Saint  Ours. 


employed  at  the  springing  of  the  ridge  ribs  in  a number  of  churches  in 
Anjou,  such  as  Angers,  Saint  Serge  (Fig.  21),  as  well  as  for  the  larger 
figures  in  the  apse  of  Notre  Dame-de-la-Couture  at  Le  Mans  (Fig.  20). 173 
It  may  even  be  through  the  influence  of  such  figures  as  these  that  gro- 
tesques were  used  to  support  the  small  shafts  in  the  arcade  of  the  tri- 
forium  passage  in  the  cathedral  of  Nevers  (Nievre)  (Fig.  25). 


1.2  Similar  angels  are  found  in  the  porch  of  Santiago-de-Compostella  illustrated  in 
Uhde,  Baudenkmaeler  in  Spainen  und  Portugal ; also  in  Madrazo-Gurlitt,  pi.  166.  These 
latter  are  Angels  of  Judgment,  forming  part  of  the  sculptural  scheme  of  the  three  portals. 

1.3  Similar  figures  also  appear  at  Salamanca,  in  the  old  cathedral.  See  Street,  p.  Bo 
and  Fig.  opp.  p.  80.  Uhde,  op.  cit.,  Fig.  119,  p.  50. 


56 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Square  Nave  and  Rectangular  Aisle  Bays  continued 

Returning  to  the  churches  later  in  date  than  Bury  but  vaulted  on  the 
same  plan,  it  will  be  found  that  there  are  but  few  examples  in  France,  an 


Fig.  25. — Nevers,  Cathedal. 


interesting  fact  for  which  an  explanation  will  later  be  attempted.174  The 
lower  story  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  at  Paris  (cir.  1250)  furnishes  one  of 
the  rare  examples,  but  here  the  nave  and  aisles  are  of  the  same  height 
and  so  do  not  exactly  resemble  the  system  at  Bury.  Because  of  their 
narrowness,  the  side  aisle  vaults  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  did  not  furnish 
proper  abutment  for  those  of  the  nave,  and  the  builders  found  it  necessary 
to  add  tie-rods  and  even  transverse  half  arches  forming  veritable  interior 


174  See  p.  57. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


57 


flying  butresses  at  about  half  the  height  of  the  transverse  ribs.  This  is, 
however,  a most  unusual  arrangement. 

It  was  in  Italy  more  than  elsewhere  that  the  method  of  square  nave 
and  rectangular  aisle  bays  was  adopted.  Many  of  the  largest  churches  of 
the  Gothic  period  in  that  country  were  thus  constructed.  Among  these, 
Santa  Maria  Novella  at  Florence  (end  of  the  thirteenth  and  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  centuries)  has  nave  bays  which  are  practically  square, 
while  the  cathedral  of  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore  (fourteenth  century)  in  the 
same  city  is  a much  larger  church  more  strictly  following  the  type.175 
This  vast  edifice  presented  such  a vaulting  problem  that  the  builders  did 
not  hesitate  to  resort  to  the  use  of  iron  tie-rods  to  counteract  the  thrusts, — - 
a subterfuge  common  enough  in  Italian  architecture,  of  which  the  church 
of  the  Frari  at  Venice  (after  1250)  presents  an  exaggerated  example. 

Lighting  Problems  in  Naves  with  Square  Bays 

Several  factors  enter  into  the  lack  of  popularity  of  the  vaulting  sys- 
tem just  described  especially  in  the  more  northern  countries,  but  the 
fundamental  one  would  seem  to  be  the  difficulty  of  properly  lighting 
churches  thus  covered.  If  an  examination  be  made  of  the  churches  with 
a single  broad  nave  and  no  aisles  it  will  be  seen  that  in  Italy,  where  a 
comparatively  small  proportion  of  window  space  was  necessary,  the  build- 
ers were  content  with  a single  window  in  each  nave  bay  as  for  example,  in 
San  Francesco  at  Assisi.  In  France,  on  the  other  hand,  the  light  thus 
admitted  would  have  proved  inadequate,  and  in  such  churches  as  the 
cathedral  of  Angers  (Fig.  19)  and  Sainte  Radegonde  at  Poitiers  two 
windows  were  introduced  under  each  wall  rib.  This  is,  however,  an 
awkward  arrangement  because  these  windows  do  not  properly  fill  the 
wall  space,  and  though  this  is  better  accomplished  by  adding  a circular 
window  above  the  upright  pair  as  was  done  in  La  Couture  at  Le  Mans 
(Fig.  20),  still  the  effect  even  then  is  not  satisfactory  and  much  solid 
wall  which  might  be  utilized  for  windows  is  wasted.  Moreover,  in  a 
church  with  side  aisles,  the  clerestory  arrangement  was  still  more  trouble- 
some since  important  structural  difficulties  were  involved.  To  raise  a 
great  four  part  vault  high  above  the  aisles  in  order  to  obtain  a large 

1,5  Other  examples  include:  Bologna,  San  Petronio,  ill.  in  Joseph,  p.  172,  Fig.  132; 

Verona,  Cath.  See  Bond,  p.  321;  Pavia,  San  Teodoro  (1150-1180),  see  Bond,  o.  321; 
Venice,  SS.  Giovanni  e Paolo,  Cummings,  II.  p.  192. 


58 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


clerestory  was  no  easy  task  because  of  the  excessive  thrust  which  such  a 
vault  exercised  at  its  four  points  of  support.  In  Italy,  where  the  amount 
of  light  required  was  not  great,  a very  low  clerestory  with  small,  circular 
windows,  one  to  each  bay,  was  all  that  was  essential,  and  so  in  such 
churches  as  Santa  Maria  Novella  and  the  cathedral  at  Florence  the  nave 
vault  was  placed  at  a point  only  slightly  above  the  vaults  of  the  aisles, 
and  its  thrusts  offset  by  simple  ramping  walls  beneath  the  side  aisle  roofs. 
Such  a church  in  France  would  have  been  inadequately  lighted,  and  even 
if  a greater  structural  skill  permitted  the  French  to  erect  loftier  clerestories 
than  those  in  Italy,  there  remained  the  difficulty  of  arranging  the  windows 
to  get  the  maximum  of  light  and  the  best  appearance.  A single  opening 
occupying  the  entire  space  beneath  the  wall  rib  would  have  been  all  head 
and  no  jamb.  One  upright  window  would  have  admitted  too  little  light 
for  a large  nave,  and  two  windows  near  together  not  only  left  a great 
deal  of  wall  space  unused  but  were  most  awkwardly  placed  in  churches 
where  one  nave  bay  corresponded  to  two  bays  in  the  aisles  as  in  Le  Mans 
cathedral,170  because  they  were  not  on  an  axis  with  the  arches  of  the  nave 
arcade.  On  the  other  hand,  if  placed  on  this  axis,  the  resulting  windows 
were  necessarily  of  small  size  like  those  in  such  Rhenish  churches  as  the 
cathedral  of  Speyer  where  a second  stage  of  windows  has  been  added  one 
in  the  center  above  each  lower  pair  in  a far  from  satisfactory  manner  since 
it  brings  a window  above  the  intermediate  pier. 

Origin  of  Sexpartite  Vaulting 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  at  least  a reasonable  assumption  that  the 
lighting  problem  had  much  to  do  with  the  discarding  by  the  French 
builders  of  the  simple  square  four-part  nave  vault.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
however,  they  did  not  exactly  discard  it,  but  evolved  from  it  a vault  in 
six  cells,  which,  while  it  still  retained  the  old  division  of  the  nave  into 
square  bays,  each  corresponding  to  two  bays  in  the  aisle,  at  the  same  time 
permitted  the  uniform  treatment  of  these  in  elevation  and  made  possible 
larger  windows, — one  to  each  aisle  bay, — symetrically  placed  and,  in  the 
course  of  time  filling  the  entire  space  beneath  the  wall  ribs.  This  six-part 
ribbed  vaulting  would  seem  to  have  originated  early  in  the  twelfth  cen- 

'™  See  also  Rivolta  d’Adda — Rivoira,  I.  p 234,  Fig.  331;  Pavia,  S.  Michele,  Porter,  I,  ill. 
104,  opp.  p.  204. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


59 


tury,  in  the  French  province  of  Normandy.  This  province  has  already 
been  mentioned  as  the  center  of  a Romanesque  school,  which  extended  over 
the  greater  part  of  England  after  the  conquest  of  1066,  and  reached  its 
height  during  the  reign  of  Duke  William,  the  Conqueror  (1035-1087), 
when  a vast  number  of  churches  were  constructed,  many  of  them  of  large 
size.  These  were  in  general  wooden  roofed  throughout,  though,  occasion- 
ally, as  has  been  shown,177  groined  vaults  were  used  in  the  choir  or  aisles, 
or  both.  Toward  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  however,  the  Nor- 
man builders  determined  to  vault  the  naves  of  a number  of  these  churches, 
among  them  the  two  abbeys  at  Caen,  and  the  result  of  this  determination 
was  the  evolution  of  the  true  and  false  six-part  vault. 

Like  the  Rhine  provinces,  Normandy  had  always  been  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  the  methods  of  building  developed  in  Lombardy.  Whether 
this  was  due  to  the  presence  in  Normandy  of  such  men  as  Lanfranc,— 
who  was  born  in  Pavia  in  1005  and  became  successively  prior  of  Bee 
(1045-1066),  abbot  of  Saint  Ltienne  at  Caen  (1066),  and  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  (1070-1089),  and  who  may  have  kept  Normandy  closely  in 
touch  with  Lombardy, — or  whether  there  were  other  more  powerful  in- 
fluences, it  is  impossible  to  state,  but  in  any  event  the  architectural  analo- 
gies between  the  two  schools  are  striking.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
type  of  shafted  pier  most  frequently  found  in  Normandy,  and  of  the 
alternate  system  of  light  and  heavy  supports,  which,  while  it  does  not 
characterize  all  the  churches  of  the  school,  is  found  in  many  of  them. 
Thus  when  the  Norman  builders  determined  to  vault  their  great  churches 
at  Caen,  one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  them  turning  to  Lombardy  for 
a method  of  vault  construction,  especially  since  Sant’  Ambrogio  at  Milan 
had  been  successfully  completed  at  least  a quarter  of  a century  before 
their  determination  was  made.  And  in  fact  this  is  probably  what  they 
did.  But  there  were  certain  differences  in  structure  between  the  churches 
of  the  two  schools  which  made  it  impossible  for  the  Norman  builders  to 
adopt  unchanged,  the  heavy  square,  domed-up,  cross-ribbed  vaults  of 
Lombardy.  The  first  of  these  differences  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  Norman 
churches  were  originally  built  for  wooden  roofs, — which  may  even  have 
been  in  place,  in  many  cases,  when  the  vaults  were  begun, — while  the 
Lombard  churches  were  planned  from  the  ground  for  their  vaulting.  The 

177  See  pp.  39  and  42. 


6o 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


(second  difference  was,  that  the  Norman  interior  system  possessed  a cleres- 
tory window  of  considerable  size  centered  above  each  of  the  arches  open- 
ing into  the  side  aisles, — that  is  two  in  each  wall  of  what  would  be  a square 
nave  bay, — while  the  Lombard  churches  either  had  no  clerestory  at  all,  as 
at  Sant’  Ambrogio,  or  one  in  which  the  windows  were  small  and  there  was 
no  attempt  to  center  them  as  in  San  Michele  at  Pavia. 

It  was  natural  that  the  Norman  builders  should  have  preferred  to 
preserve  their  interior  and  exterior  elevations  as  nearly  as  possible  as  they 
were  when  only  a wooden  roof  was  used,  both  to  avoid  the  expense  which 
would  be  involved  in  reconstruction  and  to  preserve  the  large  clerestory  so 
essential  in  a northern  country.  To  vault  these  churches  and  at  the  same 
time  save  this  clerestory  would  seem  to  have  been  the  problem,  therefore, 
which  the  builders  set  themselves  to  solve.  That  they  attempted  to  use  the 
four-part  vault  in  its  solution  will  be  seen  from  an  examination  of  the 
seven  vaulted  churches178  still  remaining  in  which  the  old  system  of  square 
nave  bays  is  found,  for  in  four  of  these  a variant  of  four-part  ribbed 
vaulting  was  employed  while  in  the  other  three  a new  method  was  de- 
veloped out  of  the  four-part  type. 

A study  of  the  two  abbeys  at  Caen  will  illustrate  this.  Of  the  two, 
Saint  Etienne  or  the  Abbaye-aux-Hommes  (cir.  1064-1066)  would  seem 
to  be  the  earlier  as  far  as  its  vaulting  is  concerned  and  this  would  seem  to 
date  from  about  1135.  In  its  nave  (Fig.  26)  the  alternate  system  of  sup- 
ports is  employed,  though  all  the  piers  are  of  almost  the  same  section  with 
a single  shaft  carried  up  the  inner  face.  The  aisles  are  in  two  stories  and 
there  is  a clerestory  with  a single  window  in  each  bay.  The  nave  was 
originally  covered  with  a wooden  roof.  With  this  elevation  existing  before 
the  church  was  vaulted  it  is  quite  possible  to  account  for  the  form  which 
this  vaulting  assumed.  The  first  step  must  have  been  to  divide  the  nave 
into  square  bays  by  transverse  arches, — assuming  that  these  were  not  al- 
ready in  place.  The  springing  of  these  arches  must  naturally  have  been 
governed  by  that  of  those  which  opened  into  the  crossing,  and  the  level 
of  their  crowns,  by  the  wooden  timbering  of  the  roofs, — which  may  well 
have  been  in  place  when  the  vaults  were  built.  The  result  was  that  these 
transverse  arches  had  to  rise  from  a point  as  low  as  the  clerestory  string- 
course and  could  only  be  a slightly  stilted  semicircle  in  elevation.  If  the 

1T*  Omitting  for  the  present  the  cathedral  of  Durham. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


61 


bays  thus  constituted  were  to  be  covered  by  four-part  vaults  of  Lombard 
type,  the  next  step  would  have  been  to  erect  diagonals  of  semicircular  sec- 
tion thus  doming  up  the  vault  at  the  crown,  but  at  Caen  such  diagonals 


Fig.  26. — Caen,  Saint  £tienne. 


would  have  rendered  necessary  an  entire  change  in  the  timbering  of  the  roof 
because  their  intersection  would  have  risen  above  the  level  of  the  trusses. 
Hence  segmental  diagonals  were  substituted.  Upon  this  skeleton  of  ribs,  it 
would  have  been  quite  possible  to  place  a four-part  vault,  but  the  wall 
intersection  of  its  panels  would  have  cut  off  the  heads  of  the  clerestory 
windows.  Several  methods  could  have  been  used  to  avoid  this.  In  the 
first  place  the  severies  could  have  been  so  shaped  as  to  cut  the  walls  in  a 
curve  above  the  window,  but  this  would  have  given  a flattened  form  to  the 
panel  and  rendered  it  most  difficult  both  to  construct  and  to  support  when 
in  place.  A second  expedient  would  have  been  to  reduce  the  size  of  the 
windows  but  this,  besides  cutting  off  most  necessary  light  would  have  ut- 
terly destroyed  the  splendid  proportions  between  the  horizontal  divisions 


62 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


of  the  Norman  interior.  A third  method  would  have  been  to  move  the 
windows  toward  the  intermediate  pier,  but  this  would  have  destroyed  the 
axis  line  of  the  aisle,  triforium,  and  window  arches,  and  was  wisely  re- 
jected. Lastly  the  imposts  of  the  ribs  could  have  been  raised,  but  even 
this  would  have  introduced  enormous  structural  changes : first,  because 
it  would  have  rendered  necessary  a change  in  the  timbering,  or  else  raising 
the  entire  roof  of  the  church;  second,  because  it  would  have  placed  the 
new  impost  out  of  level  with  the  crossing  arches ; third,  because  it  would 
have  greatly  increased  the  thrust  of  the  vault,  already  most  difficult  to 
meet  because  of  the  segmental  form  of  the  diagonals  and  the  lack  of 
extensive  knowledge  of  buttressing  principles  on  the  part  of  the  Norman 
builders. 

To  avoid  all  these  difficulties  and  still  retain  the  windows,  a new  method 
of  vaulting  was  evolved.  An  intermediate  transverse  arch  was  added 
meeting  the  diagonals  at  their  intersection,  and  above  the  triangular  win- 
dow cells  thus  formed,  separate  vault  panels  were  constructed  (Lig.  26). 
The  line  of  the  window  heads  was  thus  left  undisturbed  and  the  six-part 
vault  created  (Plate  I-c). 

Lalse  or  Pseudo-Sexpartite  Vaulting 

Of  course,  the  foregoing  suggestion  that  the  six-part  vault  was  evolved 
from  four-part  vaulting  is  largely  conjectural,  but  an  examination  of  other 
churches  in  Normandy  would  seem  to  show  that  the  Norman  builders 
almost  always  preferred  to  use  the  simple  four-part  vault  in  a slightly  modi- 
fied form  whenever  it  was  possible  to  do  so  and  still  retain  the  clerestory 
windows,  rather  than  to  employ  the  developed  six-part  type.  This  modi- 
fied four-part  vault  may  properly  be  termed  false  or  pseudo-sex-partite. 
That  it  was  not  a mere  prototype  of  the  more  developed  six-part  form 
would  seem  to  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  built  in  churches  both  con- 
temporary with,  and  subsequent  to  those  with  true  six-part  vaults. 

A good  example  of  pseudo-sexpartite  vaulting,  for  comparison  with 
that  of  Saint  Etienne  (Lig.  26),  is  afforded  by  La  Trinite  or  the  Abbaye- 
aux-Dames  at  Caen  (Lig.  27).  It  would  seem  probable  that  the  upper 
portions  of  this  church  were  extensively  rebuilt  at  the  time  when  vaulting 
was  added.  In  this  rebuilding,  concealed  flying-buttresses  were  constructed 
beneath  the  side-aisle  roofs,  and  these,  together  with  the  solid  wall  which 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


63 


replaces  the  open  triforium  gallery  of  Saint  Etienne,  made  it  possible  to 
raise  the  level  of  the  transverse  arches  of  the  vaulting  to  a point  con- 
siderably above  the  clerestory  string-course.  Furthermore,  since  the 
wooden  outer  roof  was  probably  built  after  the  vaults,  it  was  possible  to 


use  diagonals  whose  crowns  were  higher  than  those  of  the  transverse 
arches,  and  still  place  them  beneath  the  roof  trusses.  With  such  a skeleton 
of  ribs  as  a basis,  the  builders  proceeded  to  erect  a four-part  vault  over 
each  nave  bay,  or,  in  other  words,  enclosing  two  side  aisle  arches.  Be- 
cause of  the  higher  impost  of  the  vault  ribs,  the  wall  intersection  of  the 
vault  cells  easily  cleared  the  window  heads.179  Curiously  enough,  how- 
ever, the  builders  connected  the  intermediate  piers  with  a transverse  arch 

1,0  These  windows  like  others  of  the  Norman  school  are  actually  to  one  side  of  the 
center  of  the  bay  but  not  far  enough  to  make  the  difference  apparent.  In  fact,  they  would 
seem  to  have  been  moved  over  for  the  purpose  of  making  them  appear  in  the  center 
since  the  inward  curve  of  the  diagonal,  which  lies  on  one  side  of  them  only,  would  make 
them  appear  to  be  out  of  center  were  they  placed  on  the  axis  of  the  bay. 


64 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


having  a flat  wall  built  upon  it  to  the  level  of  the  crown  of  the  longitudinal 
vault  cells  (Fig.  27).  There  would  seem  to  be  several  explanations 
of  this  innovation.  In  the  first  place  the  pier  system  of  La  Trinite  is 
regular,  not  alternate,  and  a greater  symmetry  was  obtained  by  having 
corresponding  transverse  arches  connecting  each  pair  of  opposite  piers. 
Moreover  such  arches  had  been  used  before  1114  in  the  church  of  Saint 
Georges  at  Boscherville,  and  quite  possibly  elsewhere  as  well,180  beneath 
a simple  wooden  roof,  thus  tying  together  the  lofty  clerestory  walls.  In 
the  second  place,  such  arches  had  already  been  introduced  at  Saint  Etienne, 
though  for  a different  reason,  as  has  been  shown,  and  must  have  proved 
of  value  in  keeping  the  keystone  of  the  diagonals  rigidly  fixed,  besides 
having  become  a characteristic  of  what  was  perhaps  the  major  church 
of  the  school;  and  in  the  third  place,  such  an  arch  with  its  wall  above 
aided  materially  both  in  carrying  a portion  of  the  weight  of  the  vault  to 
the  alternate  piers  and  in  affording  permanent  centering,  which  was  needed 
in  Normandy  even  more  than  in  Lombardy  because  the  Norman  vault 
crown  was  never  more  than  slightly  domed  up. 

Once  introduced,  this  pseudo-sexpartite  vault  was  not  restricted  to 
La  Trinite  but  was,  as  has  been  said,  employed  in  no  less  than  four  of 
the  seven  square-bayed  Norman  churches.  At  Ouistreham  (Calvados)181 
(vaulted  cir.  1160),  the  impost  was  raised  as  in  La  Trinite  and  pointed 
transverse  arches  were  used,  thus  increasing  the  curve  of  the  diagonals 
and  improving  the  stability  of  the  vault.  More  interesting  still,  however, 
are  the  two  churches  of  Bernieres-sur-Mer,182  and  Saint  Gabriel  (Cal- 
vados)183 (both  vaulted  cir.  1150),  for  in  them  the  builders  have  clung 
so  tenaciously  to  the  pseudo  form  in  preference  to  the  true  that  they  have 
actually  moved  the  windows  of  each  bay  toward  the  intermediate  pier  in 
order  to  use  this  method  without  raising  the  imposts.  The  latter  is 
particularly  interesting  because  of  the  extreme  flatness  of  its  diagonals 
for  which  the  intermediate  transverse  arches  must  certainly  have  proved 
an  added  support. 

“°  Enlart  gives  several  examples,  though  not  in  churches  with  a regular  pier  system. 
Among  these  are:  :Cerisy-la-Foret  (Manche),  Enlart,  I,  p.  261,  Fig.  97;  Le  Mans,  N.  D. 
du  Pre  (original  state);  Villemagne  (Herault),  Saint  Gregoire  (ruined),  see  Enlart, 
T,  p.  264,  note  2. 

W1  Illustrated  in  Ruprich-Robert,  pi.  LXXIX. 

Ruprich-Robert,  pi.  LXXVIII. 

Ruprich-Robert,  LXXXI. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


65 

The  preference  of  the  Norman  builders  for  this  pseudo-sexpartite 
vault,  even  to  the  extent  of  moving  the  windows  out  of  center  to  make  its 
use  possible,  may  find  a further  explanation  than  any  yet  given  in  the 
simplicity  of  its  construction.  A comparison  of  one  window  severy  of 
Saint  Etienne  (Fig.  26)  with  one  at  La  Trinite  (Fig.  27)  will  illustrate 
this  point.  In  the  former  the  surface  of  the  vault  is  warped  on  either  side 
of  the  window,  while  in  the  latter,  the  stone  courses  run  almost  directly 
back  to  the  wall,  so  that  the  line  of  intersection  is  approximately  the  pro- 
jection of  one-half  of  the  diagonal  rib.  Of  course  this  second  surface  was 
far  easier  to  calculate  geometrically  and  could  be  put  in  place  by  less  skill- 
ful builders  than  the  warped  surface  required.  It  had,  however,  the  fault 
of  being  in  ill  accord  with  the  curve  of  the  window  head,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  possessed  the  structural  advantage  of  distributing  the  thrust  of 
the  vault  over  a large  amount  of  exterior  wall.  This  might  seem  a fault 
rather  than  an  advantage,  were  it  not  that  in  such  a primitive  system  as 
that  of  Normandy,  thickness  of  wall  was  the  greatest  factor  in  abutment 
and  thrusts  which  were  widely  distributed  were  thus  more  easily  met  than 
those  which  were  concentrated  within  narrow  perpendicular  limits. 1S4  The 
advantage  of  the  warped  system  in  thus  concentrating  the  thrusts  was,  in 
fact,  realized  only  when  inert  stability  which  forms  the  keynote  of  Nor- 
man work  gave  way  to  the  carefully  balanced  thrusts  and  counter-thrusts 
of  Gothic  architecture. 

The  little  church  of  Le  Petit  Quevilly  (Seine-Inferieure) 183  (cir.  1156) 
would  seem  at  first  to  disprove  this  Norman  preference  for  pseudo-sex- 
partite vaults.  The  imposts  of  its  arches  are  sufficiently  high  to  permit  of 
such  a type,  yet  the  real  six-part  vault  was  employed.  The  explanation  of 
this  would  seem  to  lie  in  the  geographical  situation  of  the  church,  for  it 
is  not  in  Calvados,  like  the  other  examples,  but  in  Seine  Inferieure  near 
Rouen,  or  in  other  words  on  the  border  of  the  Ile-de-France,  where  the 
six-part  vault  had  been  adopted  with  enthusiasm  and  used  as  early  as  1140, 

184  In  England,  where  thick  walls  are  an  important  factor  in  vault  support  even  at  a 
comparatively  late  date,  this  same  form  of  vaulting  conoid  is  frequently  found,  for  ex- 
ample in  Chichester,  Cath.  (ill.  in  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England, 
p.  no,  Fig.  91),  Worcester,  Cath.  choir,  (ill.  in  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture 
of  England,  pi.  XX),  Lincoln,  Cath.,  E.  Transept  (see  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Archi- 
tecture of  England,  p.  116),  etc. 

185  Ruprich-Robert,  pi.  LXXXVIII. 


66 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


or  some  fifteen  years  previous  to  the  building  of  Petit-Quevilly,  in  the 
large  abbey  church  of  Saint  Denis. 

It  is  also  difficult  to  explain  the  use  of  the  true  form  in  the  seventh 
of  the  vaulted  churches,  which  is  that  of  Creully  (Calvados),186  but  the 
fact  that  it  has  the  same  low  imposts  as  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen  combined 
with  the  evident  purpose  of  the  builders  to  keep  the  windows  in  the  center 
of  the  bays  may  perhaps  furnish  an  explanation  of  its  appearance  here. 

Development  of  Sexpartite  Vaulting 
The  true  six-part  vault,  as  used  in  Saint  Etienne,  was  far  from  being 
perfect.  In  the  first  place,  it  possessed  a number  of  inherent  structural 
faults.  These  lie  chiefly  in  the  unequal  distribution  of  thrusts,  and  the 
unequal  size  of  the  panels  into  which  the  vault  is  divided.  From  an 
aesthetic  point  of  view,  two  other  faults  might  be  added : first,  the  de- 
crease in  the  apparent  length  of  the  nave,  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
divided  into  a few  large  bays,  instead  of  twice  as  many  smaller  ones;  and 
second,  the  fact  that  the  crowns  of  the  vault  cells  above  the  windows  do 
not  run  out  perpendicularly  from  the  clerestory  wall  but  at  an  awkward 
angle,  thus  greatly  injuring  the  symmetry  of  the  bays.  Yet  in  spite  of 
these  drawbacks,  which  were  common  to  all  six-part  vaulting,  this  system 
had  a long  period  of  popularity.  There  are,  however,  certain  structural 
weaknesses  in  these  early  Norman  vaults  which  were  largely  due  to  lack 
of  experience  on  the  part  of  the  builders,  and  not  to  the  form  of  the  vaults 
themselves.  Wall  ribs  were,  for  example,  omitted,  and  the  diagonals  were 
made  of  segmental  section,  thus  rendering  unnecessarily  severe  the  thrusts 
of  the  vaults.  Moreover,  such  a church  as  St.  Etienne  was  not  planned 
from  the  ground  for  vaulting  and  the  piers  had  not  the  proper  arrange- 
ment of  shafts.  Last  of  all,  the  intermediate  arches  were  of  a rather 
ugly,  stilted  character,  possibly  so  constructed  with  an  eye  to  a better  dis- 
tribution of  light,  but  in  any  event  presenting  an  awkward  appearance. 
All  these  faults  were  gradually  overcome  in  the  Transitional  and  Early 
Gothic  churches  of  the  Ile-de-France. 

Sexpartite  Vaulting  in  the  Ile-de-France 
That  it  should  have  been  this  province  which  favored  the  six-part  sys- 
tem is  most  curious,  for  at  a date  almost  contemporary  with  St.  Etienne  at 

*"  Ruprich-Robert,  pi.  LXXXVII. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


6 7 


Caen,  ribbed  vaults  of  rectangular  plan  had  probably  been  constructed  over 
the  naves  of  Saint  Etienne  at  Beauvais  and  the  abbey  church  at  Saint 
Germer-de-Fly  (Oise)  (cir.  1130-40).  That  this  method  was  abandoned 
in  most  of  the  remaining  Transitional  churches  would  seem  to  have  been 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  vaults  of  Saint  Etienne  at  Beauvais  fell  in,  and 
those  of  Saint  Germer  did  not  prove  very  secure.187  Such  builders  as  the 
Abbot  Suger  of  Saint  Denis,  therefore,  may  very  naturally  have  looked  to 
Normandy  for  a method  of  vaulting,  since  the  vaults  of  Saint  Etienne  at 
Caen  had  at  least  remained  in  place. 

Whatever  the  cause  of  its  introduction  into  the  Ile-de-France  may  have 
been,  the  six-part  system  was  used  at  Saint  Denis  (Seine)  (1140-1144) 
and  soon  became  the  favorite  method  throughout  the  neighboring  region. 
Unfortunately  Saint  Denis  and  two  other  important  churches  of  the 
Transition,  the  cathedrals  of  Senlis  (Oise)  (cir.  1150)  and  Noyon  (Oise) 
(cir.  1140),  which  would  undoubtedly  have  illustrated  the  progress  in 
six-part  vaulting,  no  longer  have  their  original  vaults,  and  the  cathedral 
of  Sens  (Yonne)  (1140-1168)  (Fig.  28)  remains  as  perhaps  the  most 
important  example  of  the  early  developed  type.188  Its  vaults  show  the 
great  advance  made  in  construction  since  the  completion  of  Saint  Etienne 
at  Caen.  The  diagonals  are  semicircular  instead  of  segmental  arches,  and 
the  transverse  ribs  are  pointed  and  all  of  similar  curve,  giving  a more  sym- 
metrical appearance  and  greatly  reducing  the  thrusts.  Furthermore  the 
piers  are  profiled  from  the  ground  according  to  the  load  which  they  are 
to  carry,  and,  last  of  all,  a highly  stilted  wall  rib  is  added  over  each 
clerestory  window,  completing  the  skeleton  of  the  vault  and  making  pos- 
sible a larger  expanse  of  glass  and  more  satisfactory  illumination  for  the 
interior.  Of  course,  the  use  of  the  flying  buttress,  which  had  been  intro- 
duced a short  time  before  Sens  was  built,  contributed  enormously  to  the 
advancement  of  vault  construction  and  in  large  measure  explains  such  an 
improved  form  of  vaulting  as  this  is.  In  fact,  a heavy  clerestorv  wall 
was  no  longer  essential  to  the  support  of  the  vault  and  it  was  only  the 
fact  that  a large  expanse  of  glass  was  not  safe  from  the  pressure  of  the 
wind,  which  prevented  the  clerestory  windows  from  occupying  the  entire 

187  Flying-buttresses  had  to  be  added  not  long  after  their  construction,  to  keep  them 

from  falling. 

183  Even  these  vaults  have  suffered  from  reconstruction  in  the  thirteenth  century. 


68 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


space  beneath  the  formeret.  With  the  invention  of  tracery,  what  little  wall 
remained,  was  to  disappear.  A further  advance  is  shown  in  the  decidedly 
stilted  form  of  the  wall  ribs,  which  (Fig.  28)  concentrate  all  the  thrust 
of  the  vault  upon  a very  narrow  strip  of  exterior  wall  where  it  was  ad- 
mirably met  by  the  flying-buttress. 1S9  In  fact,  the  system  at  Sens  might 


Fig.  28. — Sens,  Cathedral. 


be  considered  perfected  were  it  not  for  the  unnecessary  size  of  the  ribs,  es- 
pecially those  running  transversely.  It  remained  for  the  builders  of  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  (begun  1163)  to  reduce  all  the  ribs  to 
the  same  size,  and  for  the  builders  of  the  cathedral  of  Bourges  (Cher) 
(begun  1172),  still  further  to  reduce  all  but  the  transverse  arches  and  to 
employ  the  vault  upon  a scale  even  greater  than  that  of  Paris.  In  fact, 
Bourges  marks  the  high  water  mark  of  this  system  of  vaulting  and  by 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  in  general,  entirely  given 


“’See  Moore,  p.  130  et  seq.  for  discussion  of  this  point. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


69 


up190  in  favor  of  the  four-part  cross-ribbed  vault  of  rectangular  plan,  which 
regained  its  supremacy  in  the  Ile-de-France  after  the  introduction  of  the 
flying-buttress  with  the  protection  which  this  afforded  against  such  a 
catastrophe  as  that  which  probably  befell  Saint  Etienne  at  Beauvais. 

Although  employed  to  a much  greater  extent  in  France191  than  else- 
where, almost  every  country  in  Europe  possesses  a number  of  churches 
with  six-part  vaults.  Thus  William  of  Sens  introduced  the  system  into 
England,  where  it  appears  in  Canterbury  cathedral  choir  (1175)  and  later 
in  Lincoln  transept192  (cir.  1215).  Italy  possesses  many  examples,  among 
them  the  large  churches  of  San  Francesco  at  Bologna  (cir.  1240),  the 
Certosa  of  Pavia  (1396),  and  the  small  church  of  Corneto-Tarquinia 
(Roma)193  where  the  vault  curiously  enough  appears  over  two  bays  of 
rectangular  plan  which  divide  what  would  otherwise  be  practically  a single 
square  nave  bay.194  Examples  in  other  countries  might  be  cited,  but  in 
no  case  would  they  differ  materially  from  the  French  prototypes. 

Variants  of  Sexpartite  Vaulting 

The  fact  that  six-part  vaulting  declined  rapidly  in  favor  toward  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  thus  before  the  era  of  complicated 
vaults  had  begun,  probably  explains  the  few  variants  from  the  standard 
type.  Of  these,  the  simplest  consists  in  the  addition  of  a ridge  rib  along 
the  longitudinal  vault  crown.  This  appears  in  one  bay  of  the  choir  of 
Lincoln  cathedral190  (Fig.  35),  where  the  crown  line  is  horizontal,  and  in 
the  great  transept  of  the  same  church  where  it  rises  and  falls  in  accordance 
with  the  doming  up  of  the  central  keystone.  The  small  church  of  Saint 
Jacques  at  Reims  (Marne)  (1183)  (Fig.  29)  presents  a still  better  ex- 
ample of  this  irregular  ridge  rib.  The  vault  of  Saint  Jacques  would  seem 
from  its  general  appearance  to  be  based  upon  Anjou  models  and  it  is  not 

190  A later  instance  does  appear  and  this,  too,  on  a very  large  scale  in  the  rebuilt  choir 
vaults  of  Beauvais  cathedral  (1284),  but  the  six-part  vaults  of  this  church  are  entirely 
due  to  the  subdivision  of  four-part  rectangular  vaults  in  order  to  obtain  greater  stability. 

181  Among  the  more  important  examples  not  mentioned  are:  Laon  (Aisne),  Cath ; 

Mantes  (Seine-et-Oise),  Cath.;  Dijon  (Cote-d’Or),  Notre  Dame.  etc. 

192  Other  examples  are:  Lincoln,  Cath.  choir;  (Fig.  35)  Durham,  Cath.  east  transept; 
Rochester,  Cath.  presbytery,  (Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  pi. 
XVIII),  etc. 

ml  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Figs.  58-60. 

191  Other  Italian  examples  are:  Casamari,  Ch. ; San  Galgano,  Ch. ; San  Martino,  Ch. ; etc. 
195  This  bay  was  rebuilt  (cir.  1237-1239)  after  the  fall  of  the  tower  and  is,  therefore, 

later  than  the  transept  (cir.  T200). 


;o  MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 

surprising  to  find  its  possible  prototype  in  the  church  of  La  Trinite  at 
Angers  (Fig.  30).  The  reason  for  the  employment  of  the  extra  rib  is 

r. 

probably  twofold:  first,  to  lessen  the  size  of  the  transverse  panels;  and 
second,  to  render  the  arrangement  of  the  ribs  and  severies  more  sym- 


Fig.  29. — Reims,  Saint  Jacques. 

metrical.  In  England,  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  served  as  a cover-joint 
as  well,  but  in  France  this  would  not  seem  to  hold  true,  at  least  in  La 
Trinite,  where  the  stone  courses  are  laid  with  as  much  care  as  those  in 
the  simple  four-part  vaults  of  Angers  cathedral  (see  Fig.  19). 

La  Trinite  at  Angers  (Fig.  30)  is  also  an  important  variant  of  the 
six-part  vault  because  the  impost  of  its  intermediate  rib  is  raised  to  a 
considerably  higher  level  than  that  of  the  principal  transverse  arches  and 
the  intermediate  rib  itself  is  highly  stilted.  This  would  seem  further  evi- 
dence that  the  six-part  vault  was  evolved  from  the  four-part  vault  in  an 
effort  to  make  the  arrangement  of  the  windows  more  symmetrical  in  a 
single  nave  bay  corresponding  to  two  bays  in  the  aisles;196  for  if  La 

"'In  La  Trinite  there  are  no  side  aisles,  but  a series  of  chapels  constitutes  virtually 
the  same  arrangement. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


7i 


Trinite  with  its  series  of  side  chapels,  two  to  each  nave  bay,  had  been 
vaulted  in  the  usual  Anjou  style  and  the  windows  left  as  they  now  stand 
on  the  axis  of  each  chapel  arch,  their  heads  would  either  have  been  cut 
by  the  wall  line  of  a four-part  vault  or  would  have  appeared  awkwardly 


Fig.  30. — Angers,  La  Trinite. 


placed  beneath  it.  The  addition  of  an  intermediate  transverse  arch  and 
the  conversion  of  the  vault  into  sexpartite  form  restored  the  symmetry  of 
piers,  arches,  and  windows.  In  order,  however,  to  obtain  as  much  light 
as  possible  and  to  produce  the  effect  of  square  nave  bays,  these  intermediate 
transverse  ribs  were  stilted  and  their  imposts  raised.  Nor  was  this  stilt- 
ing confined  to  Anjou.  It  appears  a number  of  times  elsewhere  often  in 
churches  where  the  ridge  rib  was  not  employed  for  example,  in  the  cathe- 
drals of  Bremen  and  Limburg197  in  Germany,  and  in  those  of  Ribe,19s 
and  Viborg  in  Denmark.199 

187  Lubke,  I,  p.  440,  Fig.  313. 

188  Sturgis,  II,  p.  435,  Fig.  382. 

180  Sturgis,  II,  p.  439,  Fig.  386. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


72 

The  church  of  the  Certosa  of  Pavia  in  Italy  (1396)  has  six-part  vaults 
of  similar  type  but  presents  a curious  arrangement  of  square  nave  bays 
corresponding  to  rectangular  bays  in  the  side  aisles  (Plate  I-d).200  The 
intermediate  transverse  arches,  therefore,  rise  from  corbels  above  the 
crowns  of  the  side  aisle  arches,  a fact  which  explains  their  higher  imposts. 
Why  such  a vault  should  have  been  used  can  again  be  explained  by  the 
desire  to  obtain  the  best  possible  arrangement  of  windows.  Five-part 
vaults  had  already  been  used  in  the  aisles  of  the  Certosa  to  get  square 
flanking  chapels,  and  it  was  natural  that  the  builders  should  have  wished 
to  have  a clerestory  window  corresponding  to  each  exterior  bay  of  the 
church.  The  fact  that  square  nave  and  rectangular  aisle  bays  were  used 
at  all  would  seem  to  have  been  due  to  the  Italian  fondness  for  this  system 
which  caused  the  least  possible  obstruction  of  the  church  interior  by  piers. 
The  only  curious  feature  is,  therefore,  the  use  of  the  six-part,  instead  of 
the  more  natural  four-part,  vault. 

A somewhat  similar  arrangement  with  the  substitution  of  two  four- 
part  vaults  for  the  six-part  vaults  of  Pavia  is  to  be  seen  in  the  cathedral 
of  Magdeburg,201  where  the  same  combination  of  nave  and  aisle  bays 
occurs.  The  builders,  like  those  of  Pavia,  first  subdivided  the  outer  longi- 
tudinal cells  of  the  side  aisle  vaults  by  a half  rib  in  order  to  obtain  two 
windows  instead  of  one,  which  would  necessarily  be  of  rather  clumsy  shape 
or  of  small  size  were  it  placed  below  the  long,  low  wall  rib  of  a simple 
rectangular  four-part  vault.  Then  to  make  the  nave  bays  and  clerestory 
windows  correspond  to  those  of  the  aisles  in  exterior  elevation,  as  well  as 
to  obtain  better  window  space,  they  constructed  two  rectangular  four-part 
vaults  over  each  square  nave  bay  with  their  intermediate  transverse  rib 
resting  on  corbels  above  the  aisle  arches  (Plate  I-e). 

Eight-Part  Vaulting 

There  is  one  more  important  variant  of  the  six-part  vault  which  is 
especially  interesting  and  unusual.  It  appears  in  the  church  of  Saint 
Quiriace  at  Provins  ( Seine-et-Marne)  (cir.  1160)  (Fig.  31)  202  and  con- 

200  See  also  one  bay  of  Lincoln  choir  (Fig.  35)  rebuilt  cir.  1239,  also  Bourges,  S.  Pierre- 
le-Guillard,  early  thirteenth  century,  vaults  rebuilt  on  original  lines  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  Nesle  (Somme)  Ch.  also  has  this  vaulting  form  according  to  Moore,  Mediaeval 
Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  114,  note  1. 

201  See  also  Erfurt,  Frankiskanerkirche. 

202  Gurlitt,  pi.  83. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


73 


sists  in  a division  of  the  nave  into  great  square  bays  each  corresponding, 
not  to  two,  but  to  three  square  bays  in  the  side  aisle  (Plate  I-f).  The 
divisions  thus  formed  are  covered  by  what  is  really  an  eight-part  vault, 
which  is  precisely  like  six-part  vaulting  except  that  there  are  three  instead 
of  two  window  cells  in  either  side  of  each  bay.  Needless  to  say  the  im- 
mense size  of  the  transverse  triangular  severies  thus  created  presented  a 


Fig.  31. — Provins,  Saint  Quiriace. 


74 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


structural  problem  of  much  difficulty,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  such  a 
vault  was  but  seldom  imitated,203  particularly  as  the  great  discrepancy  in 
the  size  of  the  vault  cells  and  the  awkward  angles  formed  by  their  crowns 
give  a decidedly  unpleasant  appearance.  Nevertheless,  there  is  one  in- 
stance, at  least,  in  which  this  system  was  not  only  imitated  but  transformed 
into  a ten-part  vault.  This  was  at  Boppart,  Germany,204  where  the  thir- 
teenth century  church  has  vaults  with  four  window  cells  and  but  a single 
pair  of  diagonals.  To  break  up  the  two  remaining  triangular  severies, 
added  surface  ribs  were  introduced  (Plate  I-g). 

Rectangular  Nave  Bays  with  Four-Part  Cross-Ribbed  Vaults 

While  the  builders  of  Normandy  were  developing  the  sexpartite  system 
just  discussed,  those  of  the  Ile-de-France  were  experimenting  with  the 
simple  four-part  cross-ribbed  vault  of  rectangular  plan  (Plate  I-h).  As  in 
Normandy,  the  earliest  churches  of  the  province  were  in  the  main  wooden 
roofed  basilicas  like  the  Basse-Oeuvre  at  Beauvais.  When  groined  vaults 
first  appeared  in  the  Romanesque  period,  they  were  generally  employed 
only  in  the  side  aisles,  as  at  Morienval,205  and  if  one  may  judge  from  these 
vaults,  which  have  unfortunately  been  rebuilt,  they  were  of  slightly  domed 
up  section  somewhat  like  those  of  Lombardy  and  the  Rhenish  provinces. 
Toward  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  however,  when  the  central 
power  had  been  greatly  strengthened  under  Louis  VI.  (1108-1137),  there 
began  a marked  architectural  advance  which  was  destined  to  render  this 
backward  province  the  most  important  of  all  in  the  development  of  Gothic 
architecture.  One  of  the  earliest  churches  to  mark  this  advance  was  Saint 
Etienne  at  Beauvais  (probably  early  twelfth  century)  (Fig.  32),  which, 
if  one  may  judge  from  the  form  of  the  piers  and  the  ribbed  vault  of  the 
side  aisles,206  was  planned  from  the  foundation  for  vaulting  throughout. 
Unfortunately  the  original  vaults  of  the  nave,  if  such  existed,  are  no 
longer  in  position  for  they  either  gave  way  from  lack  of  support,  a natural 
supposition  since  they  had  no  other  abutment  than  the  weight  of  the  clere- 
story walls,  or  else  they  were  so  injured  by  the  fire  of  1180  that  it  was 
necessary  to  replace  them  by  the  existing  vaults  of  the  late  twelfth  century. 

J Ex.  Voulton  (Seine-et-Marne),  Ch.  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  I,  pi.  62. 

204  Bumpus,  illustration  opp.  p.  92. 

255  111.  in  Moore,  p.  51. 

200  See  p.  96  and  Fig.  44. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


75 


These,  while  they  do  not  make  up  for  the  loss  of  their  predecessors,  are 
nevertheless  important  because  of  their  early  date.  They  are  antedated, 


Fig.  32.— Beauvais,  Saint  Etienne. 


however,  by  a number  of  very  important  churches  which  still  retain,  in  part 
at  least,  their  original  vaulting. 

Irregular  Four-Part  Vaulting  of  Durham  Caitiedral 
The  first  of  these  is  the  English  cathedral  of  Durham.  The  date  of 
its  vaults  is  still  the  subject  of  a decided  controversy,  but  whether  they 
were  built  between  1093  and  1133  as  Bond,207  Rivoira,20S  and  Moore209 
believe,  or  are  later  than  those  of  Saint  Denis,  which  is  the  claim  of 
Lasteyrie,210  they  are  of  sufficiently  early  date  to  be  important  in  a dis- 

™ Bond,  p.  643. 

208  Rivoira,  II,  pp.  235-243. 

208  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  25. 

210  Lasteyrie,  p.  497,  note  1. 


76  MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 

cussion  of  rectangular  four-part  vaulting.  Those  over  the  nave  (Fig.  33) 
are  especially  interesting  and  furnish  a unique  variant  of  the  standard  type. 
It  was  the  apparent  intention  of  the  builders  to  roof  the  nave  with  wood 
and  for  this  purpose  heavy  transverse  arches  were  constructed  between  the 


Fig.  33. — Durham,  Cathedral. 


alternate  piers.  When  vaulting  was  determined  upon,  the  nave  was  there- 
fore already  divided  into  square  bays  each  containing  two  clerestory  win- 
dows on  a side.  To  vault  these  bays  the  builders  might  naturally  have 
been  expected  to  adopt  the  Lombard  system  of  simple  four-part  vaults, 
but  here  in  Durham,  as  in  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen,  the  impost  level  of  the 
transverse  arches  was  so  low  that  a four-part  vault  would  have  made 
impossible  the  retention  of  the  windows  already  in  position  above  each 
nave  arch.  As  these  were  absolutely  essential  in  the  north  of  England 
for  lighting  purposes,  and  also  most  important  in  preserving  the  sym- 
metry of  the  bays,  a change  either  in  their  size  or  position  would  have 
proved  impractical.  The  six-part  vault  was  the  Norman  method  of  solv- 
ing a similar  problem.  But  the  builders  of  Durham  invented  a new  sys- 
tem, made  up  of  two  rectangular  cross-ribbed  vaults  in  each  bay,  their 
intermediate  supports  afforded  by  corbels,  and  their  alternate  transverse 
arches  omitted  (Plate  I-i).  This  omission  of  the  intermediate  rib  gives  a 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


77 


very  unusual  character  to  the  vault  but  it  preserves  the  alternate  system 
with  square  nave  bays  so  popular  in  Norman  work,  and  at  the  same  time 
has  a great  advantage  over  the  six-part  vault  in  that  the  transverse  crown 
line  of  the  window  cells  is  perpendicular  to  the  outer  wall.  The  panels 
are  therefore  more  symmetrical  in  elevation  and  the  thrusts  are  more 
evenly  distributed  from  pier  to  pier.  The  large  central  severy,  however, 
afforded  a difficult  surface  both  for  construction  and  support,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  system  was  not  repeated.  As  in  the  early  ribbed 
vaults  at  Caen,  wall  ribs  were  not  employed  at  Durham,  and  the  abutment 
was  provided  only  by  flat  pilasters  and  concealed  flying  buttresses,  some 
of  full  and  some  of  half  arched  form.211 

Early  Four-Part  Ribbed  Vaults  in  Normandy 

That  the  rectangular  four-part  system  of  vaulting  was  developed  in 
Normandy,  as  well  as  in  England  and  the  Ile-de-France,  and  very  pos- 
sibly independently  of  both,  is  proved  by  the  early  twelfth  century  abbey 
church  of  Lessay  (Manche)  (cir.  1130). 212  If  the  vaults  of  Lessay  are 
an  independent  development  it  is  hardly  possible  to  see  in  them  anything 
else  than  another  effort  to  vault  a church  with  square  nave  bays  and  yet 
provide  the  best  possible  vaulting  to  fit  above  the  windows.  A glance  at 
the  choir213  will  show  that  the  alternate  system  was  here  employed  just  as 
in  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen,  yet  the  builders  introduced  two  four-part  vaults 
instead  of  one  of  six-part  type  in  each  bay.214  The  transverse  arches  are 
still  semicircular  and  the  vault  is  somewhat  rudimentary.  The  system  as 
a whole  may  be  considered  as  a fourth  method213  of  the  Norman  builders 
to  preserve  their  clerestory  intact  and  still  vault  their  churches.  A slight 
advance  is  shown  in  the  vaults  at  Pontorson  (Manche)  (middle  of  twelfth 
century).  This  is,  however,  a small  church  without  side  aisles  and  its 
vaults  are  in  almost  square  bays  with  pointed  transverse  arches  and  con- 
siderably domed  up  at  the  crown.  Wall  ribs  are  still  lacking  as  at  Durham 
and  Lessay. 

211  Bond,  p.  370. 

212  Bond,  pp.  315  and  319. 

213  Bond,  p.  319. 

214  The  system,  moreover,  is  complete  with  a transverse  arch  which  might  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  it  was  later  than  that  at  Durham. 

216  The  other  three  are,  the  sexpartite  and  pseudo-sexpartite  vaults  and  the  irregular 
four-part  method  employed  at  Durham. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


/8 


Transitional  Four-Part  Ribbed  Vaults  in  the  Ile-de-France 

The  abbey  church  of  Saint  Germer-de-Fly  (Oise)  (cir.  1140),  which 
still  retains  its  original  vaults  in  the  choir  and  two  eastern  bays  of  the 
nave,  presents  another  and  perhaps  more  important  example  of  rectangu- 
lar four-part  cross-ribbed  vaulting.  Its  structural  arches  are  of  pointed 
section,  and  the  piers  and  walls  are  strengthened  by  concealed  flying-but- 
tresses beneath  the  wooden  roof  of  the  triforium.216  These  are  similar 
to  those  which  have  already  been  noted  in  La  Trinite  at  Caen  and  in  the 
nave  of  Durham,217  but  the  vaults  are  superior  in  construction  to  those 
at  Durham  and  are  also  provided  with  transverse  arches  between  each 
rectangular  bay.  With  the  aid  of  this  concealed  buttress  and  the  reten- 
tion of  the  heavy  Romanesque  walls  and  small  openings  the  vaults  of  Saint 
Germer  were  kept  from  falling,  and  it  was  doubtless  this  fact  which  led  to 
the  extension  of  the  four-part  system  until  it  rivaled  and  at  length  became 
more  popular  than  the  six-part  vaulting  imported  from  Normandy  and 
used  at  exactly  the  same  period  in  the  church  of  Saint  Denis.  A number 
of  elementary  features  still  remained  at  St.  Germer,  however.  The  trans- 
verse arches  are  but  slightly  pointed  in  section,  the  ribs  are  unusually 
heavy,  and  the  diagonals  of  the  choir  bay  are  supported  upon  corbels218 
showing  that  the  shaft  arrangement  was  not  yet  in  accord  with  the  ribs 
to  be  carried. 

A gradual  development  of  the  flying-buttress,  and  of  the  compound 
pier,  a reduction  in  the  size  of  the  ribs,219  and  many  other  structural  re- 
finements rapidly  followed  one  another  in  the  period  subsequent  to  the 
construction  of  Saint  Germer  and  led  to  the  perfection  of  rectangular 
four-part  vaulting.  The  cathedral  of  Soissons  (Aisne)  (cir.  1212  on) 
(Fig.  67),  for  example,  shows  a considerable  structural  advance  over  Saint 

2,8  Moore,  p.  80,  Fig.  32. 

217  Whether  these  concealed  butresses  were  first  used  in  Normandy  or  the  Ile-de-France 
is  an  open  question,  but  in  either  case  their  origin  would  seem  to  be  traceable  to  such 
prototypes  as  the  ramping  walls  above  the  transverse  aisle  arches  of  such  Lombard 
churches  as  Sant’  Ambrogio  at  Milan  and  perhaps  even  to  Roman  monuments  like  the 
basilica  of  Maxentius  at  Rome.  The  really  important  question  is  to  learn  when  these 
concealed  buttresses  were  first  raised  above  the  aisle  roofs  to  constitute  true  flying-but- 
tresses. This  would  seem  to  have  taken  place  in  the  Ile-de-France,  perhaps  at  Domont 
as  Porter  suggests  (Porter,  II,  pp.  91-92),  or  at  Noyon  towards  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century. 

2,8  111.  in  Moore,  p.  76. 

2'”  An  example  of  the  heavy  ribs  used  in  early  work  may  be  seen  at  Morienval,  Fig.  77. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


79 


Germer.  Its  ribs  are  more  decidedly  pointed  though  still  somewhat  heavy 
and  there  is  no  hesitation  in  raising  the  impost  of  the  vault  far  above  the 
clerestory  string-course,  since  its  thrusts  are  easily  met  by  exterior  flying- 
buttresses. 

Developed  Four-Part  Ribbed  Vaults 

It  is  in  the  cathedral  of  Amiens  (beg.  1218)  (Fig.  69),  however,  that 
the  four-part  vault  reaches  its  most  daring  if  not  its  most  perfect  form. 
Here  the  builders  constructed  a vault  similar  to  that  of  Soissons,  but 
rising  over  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  from  the  pavement.  Its  ribs  are 
perfectly  proportioned  and  finely  moulded  and  the  buttress  system  is  com- 
pletely developed.  One  awkward  feature  does,  however,  appear  in  the 
fact  that  the  builders,  perhaps,  in  order  to  concentrate  the  thrusts  of  the 
vaults  upon  the  narrowest  possible  strip  of  outer  wall,  have  made  the  wall 
intersection  of  the  window  severies  follow  an  irregular  curve  which  does 
not  correspond  to  that  of  the  wall  rib  in  the  portion  from  the  impost  to  a 
point  near  the  haunch.  In  spite  of  this  defect,  the  cathedral  of  Amiens 
may  well  be  considered  as  marking  the  highest  development  of  rec- 
tangular ribbed  vaulting.  A study  of  other  Gothic  churches  will  dis- 
close few,  if  any,  improvements,  either  in  appearance  or  construction, 
and  many  of  the  finest  closely  resemble  this  masterpiece. 

The  Curve  of  Vault  Ribs 

Such  a study  will,  however,  show  a decided  difference  in  the  elevation 
of  the  transverse  ribs  and  consequent  shape  of  the  vaults,  which  is  worthy 
of  some  notice.  If,  for  example,  a triangle  be  inscribed  beneath  a num- 
ber of  these  transverse  arches,  it  will  be  found  that  the  angles  inside  its 
base  vary  from  about  fifty  degrees  in  Saint  Germer-de-Fly,  Rouen  cathe- 
dral and  Beverley  Minster;2-0  to  fifty-five  degrees  in  Soissons,  Amiens, 
Salisbury,  and  Milan  cathedrals,  and  Westminster  Abbey;  and  even  to  sixty 
degrees  in  the  cathedrals  of  Cologne  and  Reims.  Moreover  there  is  a 
great  difference  in  the  curve  of  these  same  transverse  ribs.  Those  in 
Saint  Germer,  Beverley,  and  Rouen  closely  approach  a semicircle,  those  in 
Amiens  and  Salisbury  are  much  more  pointed,  but  made  up  of  two  arcs 

220  These  and  the  following  churches  are  chosen  at  random  merely  for  the  purposes  of 
comparison. 


8o 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


without,  however,  a long  radius  with  the  resulting  flattened  appearance 
to  be  noted  at  Cologne  and  Reims  and  more  decidedly  at  Milan.  All  this 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  elevation  of  these  ribbed  vaults, — and  this 
is  true  of  six-part  and  complex  vaults  as  well, — was  largely  a matter  of 
individual  taste  with  a tendency  to  favor  the  form  used  at  Amiens.  The 
reason  for  the  employment  of  very  sharp  curves  like  those  of  Reims, 
Cologne  and  Milan,  was  doubtless  due  to  the  appreciation  on  the  part  of 
the  builders  of  the  fact  that  such  curves  greatly  reduced  the  outward 
thrusts,  rather  than  to  any  idea  of  beauty  of  appearance  to  be  gained,  for 
in  this  they  are  perhaps  inferior  to  the  less  pointed  examples. 

Rectangular  Four-Part  Ribbed  Vaults  in  Churches  without  Side 

Aisles 

The  use  of  rectangular  four-part  ribbed  vaulting  was  not  confined  to 
churches  with  side  aisles,  but  appears  also  in  those  with  a single  broad 
nave.  It  is  the  method  employed  in  the  Sainte  Chapelle  at  Paris  (fin. 
1248),  where  there  are  simple  salient  buttresses,  and  there  is  a splendid 
example  in  the  Cathedral  of  Albi  (Tarn)  (begun  1282)  (Fig.  34),  where 
the  nave  has  a very  wide  span  and  is  flanked  by  chapels  in  two  stories  be- 
tween heavy  pier  buttresses  which  are  thus  enclosed  in  the  church  in  a 


Fig.  34. — Albi,  Cathedral. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


81 


truly  Byzantine  manner.  In  the  smaller  church  of  Saint  Nicholas  at 
Toulouse  these  buttress  chapels  are  in  but  one  story  and  the  bays  are 
more  nearly  square  in  plan,  a compromise  between  the  square  and  rec- 
tangular systems  which  appears  on  an  even  larger  scale  in  the  cathedral 
of  Saint  Bertrand-des-Comminges  (Haute-Garronne)  (cir.  1304).  As 
far  as  construction  is  concerned  these  vaults  over  a single  broad  nave 
offer  no  advance  over  those  in  churches  with  side  aisles,  not  even  requiring 
a scientific  system  of  flying  buttresses  to  offset  their  outward  thrust.  Their 
only  importance  lies  in  the  very  broad  space  sometimes  covered  by  them.221 

Vaulting  with  Added  Ribs 

The  simple  forms  of  ribbed  vaulting  just  discussed  were  the  ones 
most  frequently  in  use  during  the  best  Gothic  period.  But  among  certain 
builders,  there  was  a tendency  even  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  introduce 
additional  ribs  into  the  vaults,  a custom  which  later  gave  rise  to  a vast 
number  of  complicated  vaulting  systems  especially  in  England,  Spain  and 
Germany.  Even  to  enumerate  these  would  be  almost  impossible  and  a 
description  of  each  is  out  of  the  question,  hence  only  those  combinations 
which  were  frequently  employed,  or  which  gave  rise  to  new  types,  will 
be  discussed. 

Origin  and  Use  of  the  Ridge  Rib 

Naturally  enough  the  ridge  rib  was  the  first  to  be  added  to  those 
already  constituting  the  four-part  vault  (Plate  I-j).  But  the  vaults  thus 
formed  should  be  divided  into  two  groups.  The  first  most  frequently 
found  in  France  and  already  discussed  in  connection  with  the  churches 
of  Anjou,222  is  that  in  which  the  surface  of  each  severy  has  a curved 
crown  and  the  rib  follows  this  curve,  with  the  object,  probably,  both  of 
subdividing  the  large  rectangular  bays,  of  marking  with  absolute  exact- 
ness the  crown  line,  and  of  aiding  in  rigidly  fixing  the  central  keystone, 
or  even  in  the  case  of  a six-part  vault,  of  giving  the  same  apparent  di- 
vision to  the  transverse  severies  as  is  found  in  those  running  longitudinally. 

Though  very  similar  to  this  first  type,  the  second,  which  was  developed 
and  most  used  in  England,  is  different,  in  that  the  ridge  line  is  here  per- 

221  For  example  in  the  cathedral  of  Albi,  where  the  nave  is  sixty  feet  in  width,  and  in 
that  of  Gerona  (Spain),  where  it  is  over  seventy. 

222  See  pp.  49  and  70. 


82 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


fectly  horizontal,  and  the  main  purpose  of  the  rib  is  to  mark  this 
horizontal  line  with  absolute  exactness  and  to  give,  what  Bond  terms  a 
spine,223  to  the  vault  skeleton.  In  the  earliest  example  in  England,  the 
transept  aisle  of  Ripon  cathedral  (cir.  1170), 224  the  ribs  are  so  small  as 
to  be  purely  decorative.  This  leaves  the  choir  of  Lincoln  cathedral  (begun 
1192)  (Fig.  35)  as  the  first  English  example  of  importance  in  which  a 


Fig.  35. — Lincoln,  Cathedral. 


true  ridge  rib  appears.  It  is  not  yet  absolutely  horizontal  since  there  is  a 
slight  curve  to  each  severy.  Its  presence  would  seem  to  be  due  to  the 
peculiar  form  of  the  vault,  in  which  the  ribs  enclosing  the  window  cells 
do  not  meet  at  a common  point  of  intersection  but  at  two  points  somewhat 
distant  from  each  other  along  the  ridge  line  where  each  pair  is  abutted  by 
a single  rib  running  to  the  nearest  impost  on  the  opposite  wall  (Plate  1-1). 
This  arrangement,  which  was  probably  planned  to  increase  the  amount  of 

^See  Bond,  p.  336. 

224  See  Bond,  p.  335. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


83 


centering  in  the  large  transverse  panels  and  thus  render  their  construction 
easier,225  gives  an  extra  keystone  in  each  bay  and  it  is  quite  possible  that 
the  ridge  rib  was  introduced  in  order  to  unite  these  intersections  and  fix 
them  in  a straight  line.  It  does  not  appear  in  the  window  cells  where  it 
would  of  course  have  been  at  an  awkward  angle  with  the  outer  walls. 

Once  introduced  into  English  architecture  the  ridge  rib  was  destined 
to  play  a most  important  part  in  its  development.  In  the  first  place,  it 
provided  an  easy  method  of  assuring  an  absolutely  level  and  straight  ridge 
fine  and  was  thus  especially  welcome  to  English  builders,  who  had  been 
trained  in  the  construction  of  vaults  which  were  never  more  than  slightly 
and  often  not  at  all  domed  up,  and  who  were,  besides,  rather  inferior 
masons,  and  not  particularly  skillful  in  making  their  masonry  courses  in- 
tersect in  a perfect  manner.  In  the  second  place,  it  furnished  admirable 
abutment  for  tiercerons  or  intermediate  ribs,220  which  were  perhaps  sug- 
gested by  such  a vault  as  Lincoln  choir  as  being  valuable  additions  to 
the  rib  skeleton  and  were  thereafter  very  generally  used  to  provide  more 
permanent  centering  and  to  further  reduce  the  size  of  the  vault  panels. 

It  is,  however,  notable  that  a longitudinal  ridge  rib  appears  added  to 
simple  four-part  vaults  without  the  introduction  of  tiercerons  or  transverse 
ridge  ribs  at  a comparatively  early  date  in  Worcester  cathedral  choir 
(after  1224), 227  Westminster  Abbey  choir  (1245-1260),  and  Gloucester 
cathedral  nave  (1245),  and  that  it  is  used  in  France  in  a number  of 
churches  where  there  are  no  tiercerons.228  In  such  cases  it  serves  the 
primary  purpose  of  clearly  marking  the  ridge  line,  which  is  especially  diffi- 
cult to  adjust  in  vaults  with  level  crowns.  That  it  was  the  longitudinal 
effect  thus  produced  which  was  desired  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  ex- 
cept when  there  were  tiercerons  in  the  longitudinal  cells,  the  transverse 
ridge  rib  was  rarely  added  to  such  vaults  (Plate  I-k).  Among  the  very 
few  examples  are  the  cathedral  of  Tulle  (Correze)  (twelfth  century)  and 
the  fifteenth  century  chapel  of  the  chateau  at  Blois,  both  of  them  in 
France.229 

225  See  Bond,  p.  336. 

220  As  a matter  of  fact  these  in  their  turn  help  to  support  the  ridge  rib. 

227  See  Street,  p.  78  for  a drawing  (from  Wilde)  of  this  vault  before  its  restoration. 

228  See  p.  93  for  examples. 

So  far  as  the  writer  knows  there  are  no  examples  of  the  simple  transverse  ridge 
rib  in  England,  where  one  would  naturally  expect  to  find  it  used. 


S4 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Tierceron  Vaulting 

The  introduction  of  a ridge  rib  was  only  the  first  step  in  the  develop- 
ment of  multiple  rib  vaulting.  It  was  not  long  before  the  builders,  es- 
pecially in  England,  began  to  add  intermediate  ribs  or  tiercerons  between 
the  transverse  arches  and  the  diagonals.  These  may  possibly  have  been 
inspired  by  the  extra  ribs  in  the  choir  of  Lincoln  cathedral  (Fig.  35  and 
Plate  1-1),  but  whatever  their  origin  they  became  a common  feature  of 
later  Gothic  and  gave  rise  to  what  may  be  termed  tierceron  vaulting.  In 
the  transverse  vault  severies,  which  in  England  were  really  sections  of  a 
tunnel  vault  because  of  the  level  crown  line,  these  ribs  acted  largely  as 
added  centering  and  as  decorative  features.  But  when  used  in  the  window 
cells  they  served  another  purpose  as  well  for  they  enabled  the  builders  to 
convert  the  ordinary  “ploughshare”  curve  of  the  vaulting  conoid  into  a 
series  of  fiat  panels  which  could  be  constructed  with  much  less  difficulty 
as  far  as  the  laying  of  the  masonry  courses  was  concerned. 

Sometimes  the  tiercerons  are  used  in  both  the  transverse  and  the  longi- 
tudinal severies  and  sometimes  only  in  one  of  them.  Their  number  also 
varies  greatly,  though  of  course  they  are  always  in  pairs.  Lincoln  cathe- 
dral presbytery  (cir.  1266-1280)  (Fig.  36)  affords  an  example  of  a single 
pair  in  each  of  the  large  transverse  severies  with  none  in  the  window  cells 
(Plate  I-m),  while  Chester  cathedral  chapter-house  (first  half  of  the 
thirteenth  century),  and  Worcester  cathedral  nave  (cir.  1350-1377)  (Fig. 
89)  are  rare  examples  of  the  opposite  arrangement  (Plate  I-n).230  To 
support  such  tiercerons  as  these  at  their  crown,  a transverse  ridge  rib  was 
added  to  the  construction,  sometimes  as  in  Chester  chapter-house  (Plate 
I-n),  Lincoln  nave  (before  1233), 231  and  Ely  presbytery  ( 1235-1252), 232 
running  out  only  to  the  new  keystone  (Plate  I-o)  and  thus  playing  a purely 
structural  role,  but  often  extending  to  the  window  head  (Plate  I-p)  as  in 
Lichfield  cathedral  south  transept  (cir.  1220)  and  choir  (fourteenth  cen- 
tury). These  portions  of  Lichfield,  together  with  the  nave  of  Lincoln  and 
the  presbytery  of  Ely  cathedral,  are  also  important  as  showing  the  employ- 

Moreover  the  tiercerons  at  Worcester  would  seem  to  have  been  an  afterthought. 
See  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  175. 

231  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  327. 

T"'  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  327.  See  also  Lichfield’  Cath.  nave  for  similar  transverse  rib. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


85 

ment  of  a single  pair  of  tiercerons  in  each  of  the  four  panels  of  the  vaulting 
bays  (Plate  I-p).  This  system  is  slightly  varied  in  the  naves  of  Lichfield 
and  Hereford  (Plate  I-q-r),  where  the  true  transverse  arch  is  omitted  be- 
tween the  bays,  but  these  vaults  like  those  of  Durham  are  merely  variants 
of  the  more  standard  types.233 


Fig.  36. — Lincoln/Cathedral. 


The  introduction  of  a single  pair  of  tiercerons  in  each  major  panel  was 
soon  followed,  especially  in  the  window  cells  where  the  surface  was 
warped,  by  the  use  of  two  (Plate  I-s)  and  even  of  three  such  pairs  (Plate 
I-t).  Two  are  found  in  Hereford  cathedral  south  transept  (cir.  1400), 234 
and  in  the  choir  of  Saint  Mary  Redcliffe  at  Bristol  (fifteenth  century),235 
while  three  appear  at  Exeter  (between  1280-1350)  (Eig.  37).  This  last 


Not  without  their  influence,  however,  as  a number  of  late  churches  could  be  cited 
in  which  there  is  no  true  transverse  rib,  as  for  example  the  minster  at  Berne  (Switzer- 
land), (illustrated  in  Michel,  III,  p.  52,  Fig.  31). 

234  See  Bond,  p.  333. 

“’Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  II,  p.  234,  Fig.  1. 


86 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


may  well  be  said  to  mark  the  highest  point  in  tierceron  vaulting,236  and  it 
must  be  acknowledged  that  the  decorative  effect  produced  is  most  pleasing. 
Placed  as  they  are  over  comparatively  low  naves,  these  vaults  harmonize 
in  an  admirable  manner  with  the  clustered  piers,  moulded  archivolts,  and 


Fig.  37. — Exeter,  Cathedral. 


substantial  walls  provided  for  their  support,  and  carry  to  the  crown  of  the 
vault  that  wealth  of  moulding  which  lends  so  much  of  grace  and  charm  to 
the  English  Gothic  of  the  Decorated  period.  Were  such  vaults  used  above 
the  lofty  naves  of  Amiens  or  Beauvais,  they  would  doubtless  appear  op- 
pressively heavy  but  the  lowness  and  solidity  of  English  construction 
entirely  dispels  such  a feeling.  Of  course,  tiercerons  are  not  essential 
members  of  the  vaulting  system  and  perhaps  they  were  better  omitted 
altogether,  but  that  their  usage  can  be  vindicated  from  an  aesthetic  stand- 
point is  proved  by  such  vaults  as  those  at  Exeter. 

z'1'  A larger  number  of  tiercerons  is  frequently  found  but  not  in  vaults  without  liernes, 
except  in  very  rare  instances  such  as  Oxford  Schools  Tower,  where  there  are  three  pairs 
of  tiercerons  in  each  severy.  Plan  in  Bond,  p.  324-8. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


87 


Lierne  Vaulting 

Tierceron  vaulting  did  not,  however,  mark  the  limit  to  which  the 
English  Gothic  builders  were  to  carry  their  passion  for  added  ribs  and 
complex  design,  and  it  was  not  long  before  short  connecting  ribs  known 
as  liernes  were  added  to  the  tierceron  vaults.  These  may  have  been 
introduced  by  the  builders  from  a feeling  that  the  tiercerons  did  not  have 
sufficient  abutment,  as  Bond  suggests,237  but  it  is  more  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  they  are  the  result  of  a striving  for  still  more  complex 
vaulting  forms  and  still  more  decorative  patterns  in  vault  construction. 

The  combinations  in  lierne  vaulting  are  of  course  without  number 
and  only  a few  can  be  discussed.  The  simplest  is  that  known  as  the  star 
vault  (Plate  I-u)  in  which  there  is  a single  pair  of  tiercerons  in  each  of 
the  four  main  vault  panels  with  short  liernes  connecting  the  points  of 
their  intersection  with  the  ridge  ribs,  with  a point  in  the  same  plane  on 
each  of  the  diagonals.  A simple  example  occurs  at  Oxford  in  the  Pros- 
cholium238 and  one  of  the  same  general  type  but  much  elaborated,  in  the 
choir  of  Oxford  cathedral.239 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  classify  the  remaining  lierne  vaults  under 
separate  heads,  though  there  are  certain  characteristics  which  belong  to 
one  group  and  not  to  another.  For  example,  some,  like  those  of  the  nave 
of  Saint  Mary  Redcliffe  at  Bristol240  have  no  ridge  rib,  others  have  a 
single  rib  like  that  found  in  tierceron  vaulting.  These  last  might  again 
be  classified  according  to  the  number  and  arrangement  of  their  liernes. 
Thus  in  Ely  cathedral  choir241  (beg.  1322)  and  Norwich  nave  (vaults 
cir.  1470) 242  there  are  but  few  liernes,  while  in  Winchester  cathedral  nave 
(cir.  1394-1460)  there  is  a much  larger  number.  Still  other  lierne  vaults 
have  more  than  one  ridge  rib.  Of  these,  the  choir  (1337-1357),  and 
Lady  chapel  of  Gloucester  cathedral  (cir.  1457-1489),  and  the  nave  of 
Tewkesbury  Abbey  (Fig.  38)243  are  representative  and  varied  examples. 
All  have  three  ridge  ribs  which  is  the  standard  number. 

237  Bond,  p.  340. 

233  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  329. 

2,18  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  331. 

230  Michel,  III,  p.  27,  Fig.  17. 

241  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  329. 

242  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  330. 

M See  also  illustration  in  Bond,  p.  332. 


88 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Interpenetrating  Multiple  Ribbed  Vaults 

In  these  last  three  churches,  however,  as  well  as  in  Winchester  nave 
and  in  numerous  other  examples  not  cited,  there  is  a still  more  decided 
change  in  the  form  of  the  vault  than  that  brought  about  by  the  use  of 
liernes  or  added  ridge  ribs.  This  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  window  cells 
no  longer  rise  to  the  full  height  of  the  vault,  so  that  the  entire  system  is 


Fjg.  38. — Tewkesbury,  Abbey  Church. 


practically  a reversion  to  the  Romanesque  tunnel  vault  pierced  on  either 
side  with  lunettes,  in  other  words,  to  the  interpenetrating  vault.  The  ribs 
merely  form  a permanent  centering,  and  generally  no  attempt  is  made  to 
concentrate  the  pressure  on  a narrow  strip  of  wall,244  or  to  make  use  of 
flying-buttresses.245  Except  for  the  decoration  which  they  afford,  the  ribs 
have  little  structural  value  though  they  do  make  possible  lighter  masonry 
in  the  web  than  would  be  possible  in  a continuous  tunnel  vault. 

The  height  of  the  window  cells  in  such  vaults  was  not  at  all  fixed 
though  it  was  quite  frequently  determined  by  the  intersection  of  two  ribs 
running  diagonally  from  each  side  of  the  window  to  the  second  impost 


M See  illustration  of  Gloucester  choir  in  Bond,  p.  334. 
*“  See  illustration  in  Bond,  opp.  p.  132. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING  89 

on  the  opposite  wall  of  the  church.240  Such  window  cells  as  these  natur- 
ally left  a large  central  space  along  the  crown  of  the  vault,  which  was 
usually  decorated  by  extra  lierne  and  ridge  ribs. 

Tracery  Vaults 

Not  content  with  the  liernes  as  a decoration,  an  innovation  appears  in 
Tewkesbury  choir,247  Saint  George’s  Chapel  at  Windsor248  and  elsewhere, 
which  consists  in  the  application  of  raised  mouldings  forming  tracery 
patterns  on  the  few  open  spaces  left  between  the  ribs  of  complex  lierne 
vaults.  It  is  as  if  the  tracery  of  a window  were  applied  to  a background 
of  stone,  with  ribs  taking  the  place  of  mullions.  The  patterns  are  usually 
trefoils  or  cjuatrefoils,  but  other  forms,  as,  for  example,  the  cross  shaped 
flowers  in  the  fan  vaults  at  Peterborough  (Fig.  39)  also  occur. 

The  natural  consequence  of  such  added  mouldings  and  ribs  as  those 
just  described  was  to  bring  about  the  total  sacrifice  of  the  structural  prin- 
ciples of  ribbed  vaulting  to  those  which  were  purely  decorative,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  such  a vault  as  that  of  the  choir  of  Wells  cathedral 
(1329-1363),249  in  which  the  ribs  have  but  the  slightest  claim  to  structural 
purpose  should  be  found  even  at  its  early  date  as  an  example  of  this 
decadent  stage  in  English  vaulting. 

Fan  Vaulting 

But  the  addition  of  multiple  ribs  lead  not  only  to  such  debased  vault- 
ing as  that  at  Wells.  It  must  have  played  a large  part  in  the  creation  of 
the  distinctly  novel  construction  known  as  fan  vaulting.  For  in  a vault 
with  many  tiercerons,  as  for  example,  that  at  Exeter  (Fig.  37),  or  Here- 
ford south  transept,250  the  combined  surfaces  between  the  ribs  is  a cross 
between  half  of  a hollow  sided  pyramid  and  a cone.  This  is  true  because, 
like  most  of  the  English  churches,  the  wall  rib  is  not  highly  stilted  to  con- 
centrate pressures  on  a narrow  strip  of  outer  wall,  or  to  leave  a more 
pointed  window  head  as  in  France,  but  it  and  the  tiercerons  and  diagonals 
have  much  the  same  curvature.  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  the  English 

248  See  illustration  of  Tewkesbury  nave,  Wells  choir  (Bond,  p.  332)  and  Gloucester 
choir  (Bond,  p.  334). 

247  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  330. 

248  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  332. 

249  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  332. 

250  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  333. 


90 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


builders  should  have  conceived  the  idea  of  making  all  the  ribs  of  just  the 
same  curvature  but  of  different  length  according  to  their  several  positions. 
This  they  did  in  Sherborne  Abbey  nave  (vaulted  1475-1504). 251  Here  the 
builders  very  logically  used  the  shortest  rib  as  a measure  and  connected 


Fig.  39. — Peterborough,  Cathedral. 


the  points  at  corresponding  distances  from  the  imposts  on  each  rib  with 
liernes.  A central  space  was  thus  left,  which  at  Sherborne  was  covered 
by  prolonging  a number  of  the  radiants  and  adding  a tracery  of  liernes 
and  mouldings.  The  vault  as  thus  constituted  is  not  yet  of  pure  fan  type. 
It  was  first  necessary  to  replace  the  ring  of  straight  liernes  by  those  of 
curved  plan  and  to  add  one  ring  above  another  at  the  various  points  of 
intersection  of  the  tiercerons  and  transverse  ridge  ribs,  until  practically 
the  entire  space  to  the  vault  crown  was  filled.  Thus,  in  certain  of  the 
201  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  333. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


9i 


fan  vaults  of  Peterborough  (second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century)  (Fig. 
39),  there  are  three  such  rings  leaving  but  a small  diamond  shaped  central 
space  which  is  largely  filled  by  the  keystone  of  the  bay.232  Others  down 
the  side  aisles  where  the  bays  are  smaller  have  but  a single  ring  and  a 
much  larger  central  space.  In  vaults  of  the  Peterborough  type,  the  radi- 
ants are  continued  through  this  central  panel  in  a decorative  way,  but  in 
the  cloister  at  Gloucester  (before  1412)  (Fig.  40),  this  portion  of  the 


Fig.  40. — Gloucester,  Cathedral,  Cloister. 


vault  is  left  entirely  flat  and  decorated  with  tracery  patterns  in  raised 
mouldings  such  as  are  usually  found  in  window  heads.  The  conoids, 
also,  are  covered  with  tracery  rather  than  continuous  ribs  and  the  term 
“Fan-Tracery  Vaults”  might  properly  be  used  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  more  common  type.253 

In  the  matter  of  construction,  fan  vaulting  differs  from  any  preceding 

M See  also  Cambridge,  King’s  College  chapel,  illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  333. 

25d  See  also  Oxford,  Christ  Church  staircase,  illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  3418. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


92 

method.  Its  ribs  are  all  of  precisely  the  same  curvature,  their  length  being 
determined  by  the  position  which  they  occupy,  and  they  are  no  longer 
supporting  but  rather  decorative  members.  The  lower  portions  of  some 
of  the  vaults  still  resemble  true  ribbed  vaulting  in  that  the  tas-de-charge 
is  used,  and  also  in  the  fact  that  the  ribs  still  rise  in  a single  long  voussoir. 
from  their  imposts  to  the  first  horizontal  ring.  But  from  this  point  to 
the  crown,  the  ribs  and  mouldings  are  merely  carved  in  relief  upon  the 
jointed  masonry,  which  they  therefore  in  no  way  support.  In  some  fan 
vaults,  as,  for  example,  in  Islip’s  chapel  in  Westminster  Abbey,254  and  in 
Gloucester  cathedral  cloister  (Fig.  40),  the  rib  is  even  carved  upon  the 
vault  masonry  for  its  entire  length. 

The  one  structural  advantage  which  the  fan  vault  afforded  lay  in  the 
fact  that  it  could  be  built  up  of  practically  horizontal  courses  in  a manner 
to  exert  very  little  outward  thrust;  while  the  substitution  of  curved,  for 
straight  liernes  did  away  with  the  awkward  angular  intersections  charac- 
teristic of  lierne  vaulting.  Altogether,  it  is  both  a clever  and  beautiful 
type  of  vaulting  well  suited  to  the  builders  of  the  Perpendicular  Gothic 
period,  with  their  fondness  for  intricate  decorative  rather  than  structural 
problems. 

Pendants 

Because  of  its  late  development,  fan  vaulting  was  not  extensively  used 
to  cover  an  entire  church.  Nevertheless,  King’s  College  Chapel  at  Cam- 
bridge (vaulted  between  1512  and  1515), 255  and  Bath  Abbey  (cir.  1500- 
1540), 256  furnish  two  excellent  examples,  to  which  might  be  added  Henry 
VII’s  Chapel  at  Westminster  (cir.  1500-1520). 257  The  latter  is  essen- 
tially of  fan  type,  though  the  fans  are  in  combination  with  a system  of 
transverse  arches  and  pendants  best  understood  from  the  photograph  and 
drawing  just  cited.  The  vaults  in  the  foregoing  churches,  do  however 
exhibit  minor  differences.  For  example,  the  transverse  arches  are  prac- 
tically concealed  in  the  vaults  of  the  naves  at  Sherborne,  and  Bath  and  in 
the  east  aisle  of  Peterborough,  while  they  are  prominent  in  Henry  VII’s 
and  King’s  College  chapels.  Moreover,  in  a number  of  fan  vaults  as  well 

2M  Illustrated  in  Willis,  p.  50. 

265  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  333. 

“'’The  vaults  are  modern  but  the  church  was  planned  to  have  this  type. 

2”  Illustrated  in  Bond,  opp.  p.  348,  also  Willis,  pi.  Ill,  opp.  p.  54- 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


93 


as  in  others  of  different  type,  pendant  voussoirs  or  keystones  are  em- 
ployed. These  are  supported  by  some  clever  building  trick  and  beautifully 
carved  either  as  lanterns  or  reliquaries, — like  those  of  Oxford  cathedral 
choir,238 — or  decorated  with  rich  floral,  heraldic,  or  other  designs.  Thus 
they  play  a role  which  is  largely  decorative,  though  one  which  also  marks 
a very  clever  building  technique.239 

Vaults  with  Added  Ribs — Outside  of  England 
The  vaults  thus  far  discussed  have  been  largely  those  of  England, 
but  some  of  the  types  with  added  ribs,  most  highly  developed  in  that 
country  were  not  without  Continental  examples.  In  France,  for  instance, 
ridge  ribs,  besides  being  used  in  vaults  of  the  domed  up  Anjou  type 
already  described,  are  also  found  marking  level  ridges  like  those  of  the 
standard  English  vaults.  The  nave  of  the  abbey  church  of  Souvigny 
(Allier)  (late  fifteenth  century),  the  north  transept  of  the  cathedral  of 
LeMans  (before  1430),  and  the  chapel  of  the  Maison  de  Jacques  Coeur 
at  Bourges  (middle  of  fifteenth  century)  afford  excellent  examples  of  the 
use  of  the  longitudinal  without  the  transverse  ridge  rib,  while  the  chapel 
of  the  chateau  of  Blois,  and  the  cathedral  of  Tulle  (Correze),  have  al- 
ready been  cited  as  rare  instances  in  which  both  were  employed  in  vaults 
with  level  crowns.  That  the  French  builders  were  even  more  impressed 
with  the  decorative  possibilities  which  these  ribs  afforded  than  were  those 
of  England  is  perhaps  shown  by  the  fact  that,  whereas  in  England  this 
rib  has  carved  decoration200  only  rarely  as  in  the  nave  of  Lichfield  cathe- 
dral it  is  carved  in  no  less  than  three  of  the  French  examples  cited,  the 
chief  among  these  being  Souvigny,  in  which  a deeply  cut  foliate  design 
decorates  both  sides  of  the  rib  throughout  its  entire  length.  In  Spain 
also  there  is  a notable  example  of  the  decoration  of  both  a longitudinal 
and  transverse  ridge  rib  in  the  form  of  a knotted  rope  or  scourge  in  the 
cathedral  of  Vizeu.261 

Tiercerons  as  well  as  ridge  ribs  were  freely  used  on  the  continent 

JoS  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  297.  See  also  Oxford,  Divinity  School,  illustrated  in  Bond, 
p.  331  and  Henry  VII’s  Chapel,  illustrated  in  Bond,  opp.  p.  348. 

21,9  For  an  extended  discussion  of  English  vaulting  see  Bond,  English  Church  Architec- 
ture, Vol.  I,  Chap.  V,  pp.  279-384. 

260  The  diagonals  of  many  vaults  in  France  and  Spain  and  especially  in  England  had 
been  decorated  with  carving,  particularly  in  the  early  Gothic  period. 

2S1  Illustrated  in  Michel,  IV,  p.  858. 


94 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


though  usually  not  at  a very  early  date.  Fine  examples  are  to  be  seen  in 
France  in  such  churches  as  those  of  Brou  (Ain)  (1506-1536),  and  Saint 
Nicolas-du-Port  (Meurthe-et-Moselle)  (cir.  1505). 262  Both  of  these  are 
also  of  interest  because  their  vaults  still  retain  the  domed  up  crown 
characteristic  of  French  construction,  and  because  of  this  the  builders,  to 
avoid  the  awkward  rise  and  fall  of  continuous  ridge  ribs,  have  brought 
these  out  only  far  enough  to  meet  the  pair  of  tiercerons  in  each  severy. 
Many  other  examples  of  tierceron  vaulting  could  be  cited  both  in  France 
and  elsewhere,  but  they  would  add  nothing  of  importance  from  a struc- 
tural standpoint. 

As  for  lierne  vaults,  they,  too,  appear  on  the  Continent  especially  in 
Germany  and  Spain.  The  choir  of  Freiburg  cathedral  (second  half  of 
fifteenth  century)  (Fig.  72),  and  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  at 
Gmund,263  show  two  German  types,  both  of  which  resemble  English  vaults 
which  have  already  been  discussed.  In  Spain,  the  new  cathedral  at  Sala- 
manca264 (begun  1513),  the  cathedral  at  Segovia  (begun  1525), 265  and 
many  other  churches  might  be  cited,  while  in  France  the  church  of 
Mezieres  (begun  1499), 206  and  in  Switzerland  the  cathedral  of  Bern  (cir. 
1421 -1 598) 267  show  the  extent  of  the  style,  sometimes  with  sharply  defined 
domed  up  bays  as  in  Mezieres  and  sometimes  a continuous  vault  like  that 
of  Bern.  Finally  in  some  instances,  as,  for  example,  the  Stadkirche  of 
Wimpfen268  the  liernes  are  curved  giving  a still  more  complicated  char- 
acter to  the  vault. 

Fan  vaulting  was  unused269  outside  of  Great  Britain,  but  there  are 
many  instances  of  the  employment  of  extensively  decorated  vaults,  in- 
cluding those  with  pendants  of  somewhat  English  character.  Among  the 
latter  are  Saint  Pierre  at  Caen  and  Saint  Eustache  at  Paris  (1532- 
1:637), 270  while  pendants  of  especially  exaggerated  type  are  to  be  seen 
in  the  vault  of  one  of  the  chapels  off  the  south  side  aisle  of  Noyon  cathe- 

202  Enlart,  I,  Fig.  318,  opp.  p.  558. 

203  Lubke,  I,  p.  540,  Fig.  373.  See  also  Freiberg-i-Sachsen,  Cath.  (Hartung,  I,  pi.  5). 

201  Plan  in  Street,  pi.  IV,  opp.  p.  104. 

205  Plan  in  Street,  pi.  XII,  opp.  p.  194. 

200  Michel,  III,  p.  10,  Fig.  4. 

2,7  Michel,  III,  p.  52,  Fig.  31. 

Hartung,  II,  pi.  114. 

272  So  far  as  the  writer  is  aware. 

270  Michel,  IV,  p.  567,  Fig.  376. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


95 


dral  (Fig.  41).  A tendency  to  decorate  the  panels  is  also  noticeable  in  a 
number  of  late  French  vaults,  as  for  example  that  of  the  chapel  of  Saint 
Jacques  at  Clery  (Loiret)  (probably  after  1485)  (Fig.  42),  where  each 
of  the  larger  divisions  of  a complicated  lierne  and  tierceron  vault  is  deco- 


Fig.  41. — Noyon,  'Cathedral,  Chapel. 


rated  by  a wallet  and  staff  or  a scourge  in  low  relief.  At  Rue  (Somme), 
in  the  chapel  of  Saint  Esprit,271  there  is  a somewhat  similar  vault  with 
heraldic  devices  and  floral  ornament  on  the  panels.  But  even  more  notable 
are  the  angels  in  the  round  which  have  been  added  for  decorative  purposes 
in  four  of  the  severies  of  the  vaults  in  one  bay  of  the  side  aisle  of  the 
north  transept  (sixteenth  century)  in  Senlis  (Oise)  cathedral  (Fig.  43). 
The  final  stage  in  elaborate  vaulting,  is  perhaps,  to  be  seen  in  such  a 
vault  as  that  of  the  Chapelle  de  la  Vierge  at  La  Ferte-Bernard  (Sarthe)272 
which  dates  from  1535-1544.  Here  the  panels  are  merely  portions  of  a 

271  Enlart,  I,  pp.  598-599.  Fig-  323. 

2l2Enlart,  I,  pp.  676-677,  Fig.  345.  See  also  Bristol  cathedral,  Berkeley  Chapel  (cir. 
1340)  illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  329. 


96  MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 

flat  ceiling  resting  upon  a series  of  arches  arranged  like  ribs,  but  carrying 
a tracery  framework  upon  which  the  .elaborately  decorated  ceiling  with 
its  mouldings  and  stalactite  pendants  is  made  to  rest. 

Side  Aisle  Vaulting 

There  now  remain  for  consideration  before  closing  this  chapter,  the 
ribbed  vaults  of  the  aisles  and  triforia  of  Gothic  churches.  Very  natur- 
ally the  general  development  of  ribbed  vaulting  in  the  aisles  closely  paral- 


lels that  in  the  nave.  In  by  far  the  larger  number  of  churches,  the  side 
aisle  bays  are  square  and  covered  with  simple  four-part  cross-ribbed  vaults. 
As  in  the  case  of  the  nave,  those  of  early  date  have  many  clumsy  features. 
Thus  in  the  aisles  of  Saint  Etienne  at  Beauvais  (Fig.  44) — which,  fortu- 
nately, retain  a few  bays  of  their  primitive  vaults  dating  from  about  1125 
— the  diagonals  are  heavy  (cir.  20-25  cm-  thick)273  and  either  square  with 
simple  bevelled  edges  or  of  single  torus  section.  No  wall  rib  is  found  and 
the  transverse  arches,  besides  being  very  thick,  are  of  round-headed  form, 
highly  stilted  to  bring  them  up  to  approximately  the  general  vault  level. 
The  vault  itself  is  slightly  domed  up  at  the  crown  and  besides  the  primi- 


Fig.  42. — Clery,  Chapel  of  Saint  Jacques. 


See  Dcliio  and  von  Bezold,  II,  p.  82. 


Fig.  43. — Senlis,  Cathedral,  Chapel  Vault. 


Fig.  44. — Beauvais,  Saint  £tienne. 


98 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


tive  characteristics  just  enumerated,  its  panels  are  composed  of  small 
stones  roughly  joined  and  in  very  uneven  courses,  while  the  ribs  them- 
selves are  built  up  of  short  voussoirs,  which  are  not  combined  at  their 
springing  in  the  familiar  tas-de-charge  of  more  developed  Gothic  work. 
The  cathedral  of  Sens  presents  in  its  side  aisles  (Fig.  45),  which  date 
from  the  twelfth  century274  a slightly  different  system.  The  transverse 


Fig.  45. — Sens,  Cathedral. 


arches  are  still  heavy  and  semicircular  but  they  are  not  stilted.  The 
diagonals  rise  from  corner  corbels — a fact  which  may  prove  that  the 
aisles  were  originally  planned  for  groined  vaulting. and  thus  no  provision 
made  for  the  cross-ribs, — and  they  are  also  semicircular,  thus  giving  the 
vault  a decidedly  domed  up  character.  This  makes  these  vaults  at  Sens 
very  similar  to  Lombard  work  and  it  would  seem  as  though  their  builders 

214  Perhaps  as  early  as  between  1124-1140  when  there  was  a reconstruction  of  the 
cathedral.  The  character  of  their  construction  certainly  would  not  be  inconsistent  with 
such  a date. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


99 


had  the  same  object  of  saving  centering  by  the  use  of  ribs  as  obtained  in 
Lombardy.  There  is  one  apparent  advance  over  those  at  Beauvais  in  the 
presence  of  a wall  rib,  but  this  is  of  too  wide  a span  to  fit  under  its  severy, 
and  it  would  seem  to  have  been  designed  to  mark  the  wall  intersection  of 
groined  rather  than  ribbed  vaulting. 

The  early  aisle  vaults  in  England  are  generally  similar  to  those  at 
Beauvais,  with  even  less  doming  or  none  at  all.  The  earliest  would  seem 
to  be  those  in  Peterborough,  Durham  and  the  north  nave  aisle  of  Glouces- 
ter cathedrals,  all  dating,  apparently,  from  before  1140.  Although  sim- 
ilar to  those  in  Saint  Etienne  at  Beauvais  they  differ  in  the  comparative 
lowness  of  their  transverse  arches,  which  are  but  slightly  stilted,  and  in  % 
the  correspondingly  reduced  curve  of  the  diagonals,  which  are  less  than 
semicircles  and  thus  do  not  raise  the  crown  of  the  vault.  The  explanation 
of  this  may  very  possibly  be  found  in  the  desire  of  the  builders  to  avoid 
cutting  into  the  level  of  the  triforium  floor,  especially  at  Peterborough, 
where  this  is  a true  gallery,  and  also  in  their  familiarity  with  the  flat 
crowned  groined  vault,  which  they  had  previously  used  in  crypts  and  else- 
where. The  form  of  the  diagonals  is  in  any  case  displeasing,  as  they 
spring  from  the  shafts  at  an  awkward  angle  and,  furthermore,  render 
the  thrusts  of  the  vault  excessive.275 

Many  structural  refinements  were,  of  course,  necessary  before  these 
crude  vaults  gave  rise  to  the  fully  developed  type,  but  these  refinements 
followed  in  general  the  same  order  as  those  in  the  larger  nave  vaults. 
Eirst  came  the  introduction  of  the  pointed  arch  and  its  use  for  the  trans- 
verse and  longitudinal  ribs  in  place  of  the  semicircular  type.  This  change 
may  be  seen  in  such  early  vaults  as  those  of  Noyon  cathedral  (cir.  1150) 
where  pointed  arches  are  used  throughout.  The  noticeable  feature  here  is 
the  great  size  of  the  transverse  ribs  compared  to  that  of  the  diagonals. 
This  same  feature  continues  to  appear  in  a gradually  lessening  degree  in 
many  of  the  churches  of  the  transitional  period,  and  even  in  the  de- 
veloped Gothic  of  the  thirteenth  century,  as,  for  example,  in  Bourges 
and  Amiens  cathedrals.  This  may,  perhaps,  be  explained  by  the  func- 
tion of  this  transverse  arch  which  was  not  merely  a centering  for  the 

215  Ribs  rising  in  a somewhat  similar  manner  are  to  be  found  in  the  south  of  France, 
in  the  crypt  of  the  church  of  Saint  Gilles  (Gard.)  (111.  in  Lasteyrie,  p.  263,  Fig.  253)  or 
the  chapel  of  the  Pont  Saint-Benezet  at  Avignon  (Vaucluse),  where  they  mark  the  inter- 
section of  two  flattened  tunnel  vaults. 


IOO 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


vault  panel,  but  carried  a considerable  amount  of  the  weight  of  the  ex- 
terior buttress  piers  and  wall  pilasters  which  were  connected  above  the 
aisle  roofs  by  the  arch  of  the  flying  buttress.  These  heavy  transverse  ribs 
also  aided  materially  in  bracing  the  nave  piers  and  tying  them  to  the 
outer  walls.  Sometimes,  as  in  the  beautiful  aisles  of  Rouen  cathedral,  all 
the  ribs  are  of  the  same  section,  but  whether  they  were  all  the  same  or 
not,  such  vaults  as  those  at  Rouen  and  Amiens  set  the  standard  for  de- 
veloped Gothic  side  aisles. 

Five-Part  Aisle  Vaults 

Other  methods,  however,  were  employed.  Perhaps  the  chief  among 
these  isAhe  five-part  vault,  in  which  the  triangular  severy  nearest  the 
outer  wall  in  a four-part  vault  is  subdivided  by  a half  rib  running  to  the 
main  vault  crown  (Fig.  46).  The  advantage  of  such  a system  lies  in  the 


Fig.  46. — Beauvais,  Cathedral,  five-part  vault. 


fact  that  it  permits  a more  pleasing  arrangement  of  windows  in  the  outer 
wall,  especially  in  bays  of  rectangular  plan,  like  those  in  the  Certosa  at 
Pavia  and  Magdeburg  cathedral  already  discussed,  where  the  windows 
would  otherwise  fit  but  awkwardly  beneath  the  broad  low  wall  rib.  The 
same  system  was  also  used  in  aisles  with  practically  square  bays,  as,  for 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


IOI 


example,  in  the  cathedral  of  Coutances  (Fig.  82),  in  Saint  Urbain  at 
Troyes  and  in  many  English  churches.270  Here,  too,  the  explanation  is  to 
be  found  in  the  window  arrangement,  especially  in  the  English  and  Nor- 
man Gothic  examples,  where  these  windows  are  of  the  slender  lancet  type, 
which  could  not  be  satisfactorily  placed  beneath  the  comparatively  low  wall 
rib  of  a square  four-part  vault. 

Multiple-Ribbed  Aisle  Vaults 

With  the  introduction  of  ridge  ribs,  tiercerons,  and  liernes,  the  side 
aisles  show  the  same  changes  as  those  which  took  place  in  the  nave. 
Simple  ridge  ribs  appear,  for  example,  in  Lichfield  cathedral,  liernes  at 
Worcester,  while  tierceron  vaults  could  be  cited  in  great  number.  Fan 
vaults,  too,  were  used  in  the  aisles,  and  have  already  been  discussed  in 
connection  with  those  of  the  nave.  Reconstructions  sometimes  produced 
an  unusual  vaulting  system  like  that  of  Beauvais  cathedral  (cir.  1284), 
where  transverse  arches  with  tracery  spandrels  were  added  across  each 
original  aisle  bay,  giving  the  vault  a pseudo-sexpartite  character.  True 
six-part  vaulting  was  by  its  very  nature  ill-suited  for  use  in  the  aisles  and 
is  very  rarely  found.  There  is  an  example,  however,  in  Magdeburg 
cathedral.277  A desire  for  novelty  also  seems  to  have  been  the  cause  of 
unusual  vaults,  such  as  those  of  Bristol  cathedral  choir  aisles,278  in  which 
low  transverse  tracery  arches  separate  the  bays  and  carry  a system  of  ribs 
which  subdivide  each  bay  into  two  rectangular  four-part  vaults  running 
lengthwise  of  the  aisle. 

Triforium  Vaulting 

Although  similar  in  plan  to  the  side  aisles,  the  triforia  were  apt  to  be 
a little  later  in  being  given  ribbed  vaults.  In  the  abbey  church  of  Saint 
Germer-de-Fly  (Oise)  (cir.  1140)  and  in  the  choir  of  La  Madeleine  at 
Vezelay  (Yonne)  (cir.  1160  or  1170),  for  example,  the  triforium  is  not 
only  left  with  groined  vaults  but  is  also  constructed  with  round-headed 
arches,  although  both  the  ribbed  vault  and  pointed  arch  are  used  in  the 
aisles.  This  peculiarity  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  groined  vaults  were 

t'a  Lincoln,  Cath.  nave  aisle.  Plan  in  Bond,  pp.  308-9;  Salisbury,  Cath. ; Southwell, 
Minster. 

277  Hartung,  I,  pi.  16. 

278  Illustrated  in  Bond,  p.  329. 


102 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


easier  and  cheaper  to  construct  over  a low  space  like  the  gallery  than  a 
ribbed  vault  would  have  been,  because  they  involved  less  careful  stone 
cutting  than  was  required  for  the  ribs.  Moreover,  since  the  chief  object 
of  the  transitional  builders  in  using  the  ribbed  vault  would  seem  to  have 
been  to  save  centering,  their  object  would  not  have  been  especially  well 
served  in  the  triforia,  which  were  kept  low  to  avoid  detracting  from  the 
clerestory  and  therefore  required  but  little  centering  compared  to  that 
which  would  have  been  needed  for  groined  vaults  in  the  side  aisles.  An- 
other system  with  possibly  a similar  reason  for  its  use  appears  in  Mantes 
(Seine-et-Oise)  cathedral  (end  of  twelfth  century),  where  the  aisles  are 
ribbed  and  surmounted  by  a triforium  with  transverse  tunnel  vaults,  a 
most  exceptional  arrangement. 

It  was  only  when  the  triforium  began  to  play  a larger  role  in  the  church 
plan,  when  it  was  perhaps  used  for  congregational  purposes,  that  its  vault- 
ing began  to  develop  like  that  of  the  aisles.  Thus  in  the  cathedral  of 
Senlis  (Oise)  (cir.  1150)  (Fig.  47),  the  triforium  though  comparatively 


Fig.  47. — Senlis,  Cathedral. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


103 


low,  is  a veritable  second  story  above  the  side  aisles  with  its  own  good 
sized  windows.  Its  vaults  are  still  of  rather  primitive  ribbed  type.  The 
transverse  arches,  though  pointed,  are  heavy,  and  to  avoid  the  flattened 
curve  which  the  diagonals  would  otherwise  have,  the  vault  is  given  a 
domed  up  crown.  The  cathedral  of  Laon  (Aisne)  (cir.  1170)  (Fig.  48) 


Fig.  48. — Laon,  Cathedral. 


possesses  a triforium  of  slightly  greater  height  but  still  retaining  exces- 
sively heavy  ribs  and  domed  up  vaults.  The  triforia  of  the  naves  of 
Noyon  (Oise)  cathedral  (cir.  1150-1180)  and  of  Notre  Dame  at  Chalons- 
sur-Marne  (Marne)  (1157-1183)  show  a gradual  reduction  in  the  size 
of  these  ribs,  all  of  which  finally  become  of  practically  equal  section  in  the 
triforium  of  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris  (beg.  1163),  where 
the  doming  up  of  the  crown  also  disappears  to  a large  extent  and  where 
the  gallery  itself  is  nearly  as  lofty  as  the  side  aisles.  After  the  beginning 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  triforia  rapidly  decline  in  popularity  and  are  but 
rarely  found  except  in  Normandy,  where  there  are  beautiful  examples  in 
such  churches  as  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen  choir  rebuilt  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  Owing  to  its  early  decline  in  popularity,  the  tri- 


104 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


forium  never  presents  those  complex  vaulting  systems  of  the  late  Gothic 
period  which  have  been  described  as  appearing  in  the  nave  and  aisles. 

Nave  and  Aisles  of  Equal  Height 

In  closing  this  chapter  brief  mention  should  be  made  of  the  series  of 
churches  in  which  the  aisle  vaults  are  nearly  or  quite  as  high  as  those  of 
the  nave,  which  they  therefore  aid  in  supporting.  Among  the  numerous 
examples  of  such  churches,  the  cathedral  of  Poitiers  (Vienne)  (cir.  1160 
and  thirteenth  century)  illustrates  the  type  in  which  the  vaults  of  the 
aisles  are  slightly  lower  than  those  of  the  nave,  while  Saint  Serge  at 
Angers  has  all  the  vaults  at  exactly  the  same  level.  Both  are  of  Anjou 
type  but  this  is  due  only  to  their  geographical  situation,  for  the  system  was 
widely  extended.279  In  Germany  there  is  a fine  early  example  in  Saint 
Elizabeth  at  Marburg  (cir.  i235),2S0  with  vaulting  of  simple  Gothic  char- 
acter, while  the  church  of  the  Holy  Cross  at  Gmund281  is  covered  with 
vaulting  of  complex  lierne  type.  Except  for  the  change  in  interior  eleva- 
tion which  the  system  brought  about  and  the  fact  that  it  removed  the 
necessity  for  flying-buttresses,  it  did  not  show  any  special  progress  along 
structural  lines.  It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  churches  thus  con- 
structed possess  a most  pleasing  effect  of  spaciousness  in  their  interior 
elevation,  though  this  is  offset  by  the  lack  of  direct  light  in  the  nave.  A 
final  example  of  a church  similar  to  those  mentioned  above  but  with  a 
new  vaulting  system  is  afforded  by  Saint  Florentin  at  Amboise  (Indre-et- 
Loire)  (fifteenth-sixteenth  century).  Its  aisles  are  very  narrow  and  are 
covered  by  transverse  tunnel  vaults  in  much  the  same  manner  as  a number 
of  Romanesque  churches  already  discussed,  except  that  the  nave  is  here 
roofed  with  a ribbed  vault.  It  is  but  a variant  of  the  standard  vaulting 
types  described  in  this  chapter. 


27n  Examples  include  : Linkoping,  Cath. ; Paderborn,  Cath. ; Minden,  Cath. ; Mainz,  S. 

Stephen ; Landshut,  Saint  Martin ; Prenzlau,  Marienkirche ; Heidelberg,  Peterskirche ; 
Paris.  Sainte  Chapelle  (lower  church)  ; Chaumont,  Ch. ; Perugia,  Cath.;  Winchester,  Cath. 
(Lady  chapel);  Belem  (Portugal)  Ab.  Ch.;  Barcelona,  Cath.;  Freiberg-i-Sachsen,  Cath. 
(1494-1501);  Hartung,  I,  pi.  5;  Soest,  Sta  Maria  zur  Wiese,  Hartung,  I,  pi.  49;  Stendal, 
S.  Maria  (cir.  1450),  Hartung,  II,  pi.  69. 

280  Hartung,  III,  pi.  126. 

281  Illustration  in  Lubke,  I,  p.  540,  Fig.  373. 


CHAPTER  II 


TRANSEPT  AND  CROSSING  VAULTS 

Transepts  with  Tunnel  Vaults 

Because  of  the  close  resemblance  in  plan  and  structure  between  them, 
the  transept  was  vaulted  like  the  nave  in  by  far  the  larger  number  of 
instances.  Thus  in  the  Romanesque  schools,  where  the  nave  was  tunnel 
vaulted,  similar  vaults  were  generally  placed  above  the  transept  as  well. 
They  were,  moreover,  well  suited  to  this  position,  especially  where  there 
were  no  transept  aisles,  for  the  outer  walls  running  down  to  the  ground 
afforded  them  excellent  support  and  also  provided  space  for  windows  of 
considerable  size.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  the  tunnel-vaulted 
transept  the  standard  in  Romanesque  church  architecture,  an  example  ap- 
pearing even  as  far  north  as  Jedburgh  Abbey  in  Scotland,  although  this 
was  a church  of  the  Norman  school  in  which  the  nave  was  probably  origi- 
nally roofed  with  wood.1  Even  in  the  school  of  Perigord,  where  the 
naves  are  domed,  the  transept  is  frequently  covered  with  a tunnel  vault  as, 
for  example,  in  the  churches  of  Souillac  (Lot),  Tremolac  (Dordogne), 
and  Vieux  Mareuil  (Dordogne),  in  the  cathedral  of  Angouleme,  and  per- 
haps originally  in  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Front  at  Perigueux.2  Occasion- 
ally, however,  other  forms  displace  the  tunnel  vault  in  transept  construction. 

One  of  these  appears  in  the  abbey  church  of  Cluny  (Saone-et-Loire) 
(early  twelfth  century).  Here  the  bays  of  the  transept,  corresponding  to 
the  side  aisles  of  the  church  are  tunnel  vaulted,  but  beyond  these,  there  are 
two  projecting  bays,  the  inner  one  square  and  covered  by  an  octagonal 
dome  on  trumpet  squinches,  the  outer  covered  with  a tunnel  vault  at  a lower 
level3  than  that  over  the  two  bays  adjoining  the  crossing.  Above  the  dome 

1 See  Butler,  p.  78. 

2 See  Lasteyrie,  p.  480  and  notes  1-2. 

3 From  its  elevation,  this  would  seem  to  have  been  added  later. 


io6 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


rises  an  octagonal  tower  and  spire,  and  the  whole  composition  of  this  bay 
shows  that  it  was  intended  to  be  a flanking  tower  like  those  to  be  seen  at 
Angouleme,  Treguier  (Cdtes-du-Nord),  and  Exeter  cathedrals.  For  such 
a tower,  a dome  is  more  suitable  than  a tunnel  vault,  because  it  exerts  less 
outward  thrust.  This  is  also  better  distributed. 

A more  original  method  of  transept  vaulting  is  to  be  seen  in  certain 
churches  of  the  school  of  Auvergne,  among  them  Notre  Dame-du-Port  at 
Clermont-Ferrand  (Puy-de-Dome)  (eleventh  and  twelfth  century)  (Figs. 
49,  50)  and  Saint  Etienne  at  Nevers  (Nievre)  (cir.  1097). 4 Here  each 


,Fig.  49. — Clermont-Ferrand,  Notre  Dame-du-Port. 


arm  of  the  transept  is  divided  into  two  distinct  vaulting  bays  by  a trans- 
verse arch  continuing  the  line  of  the  outer  wall  of  the  church.  All  the 
projecting  portion  is  then  covered  by  a tunnel  vault,  while  that  bay  which 
corresponds  to  a continuation  of  the  side  aisles  is  covered  by  a half  tunnel 
vault,  its  axis  at  right  angles  to  the  transept  proper  and  rising  from  above 
the  crown  of  the  intermediate  transverse  arch  to  the  springing  of  the 
crossing  dome  (Figs.  49-50).  Such  a vault  has  much  to  commend  it, 
for  it  is  most  logical  in  affording  excellent  abutment  for  the  dome,  and  at 
the  same  time  it  receives  abutment  from  the  tunnel  vault  of  the  outer 
transept  bay.  Curiously  enough,  one  church  of  the  school,  namely  that  at 

* Other  examples  include : Issoire,  Saint  Paul,  and  the  churches  at  Saint  Saturnin  and 
Saint  Nectaire  (Puy-de-Dome). 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


107 


Orcival  (Puy-de-Dome)  (twelfth  century),5  while  following  the  main 
lines  laid  down  by  the  vaults  just  described,  differs  from  them  in  having 
full  tunnel  vaults  instead  of  half  tunnels  abutting  the  dome.  This  is  a less 


Fig.  50. — Clermont-Ferrand,  Notre  Dame-du-Port. 


satisfactory  form  in  that  these  vault  have  to  be  excessively  high  in  order 
to  bring  their  thrusts  to  the  proper  level,  but  they  do  possess  the  advantage 
of  providing  excellent  window  space  above  the  transept  roofs. 

Transepts  with  Ribbed  Vaulting 
Five-Part  Ribbed  Vaults 

With  the  introduction  of  ribbed  vaulting,  examples  of  six-part  vaults, 
four-part  vaults  of  rectangular  and  square  plan  and  many  forms  of  com- 
plicated vaulting  are  to  be  found  in  the  transept  exactly  as  they  have 
been  in  the  nave.  Only  those  vaults  which  are  unusual  in  character  will 
therefore  be  discussed.  Of  these  the  most  important  is  the  five-part  rect- 
angular vault  sometimes  used  as  a termination  of  the  transept  arm.  From 
its  appearance  in  Normandy,  and  its  evident  relation  to  sexpartite  vaulting, 
this  method  may  be  assumed  to  have  arisen  there.  The  Abbaye-aux-Dames 

5 Illustrated  in  Lasteyrie,  p.  445,  Fig.  463. 


io8 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


at  Caen  (early  twelfth  century)  affords  an  example  of  such  a vault.  It 
was  evidently  employed  to  subdivide  the  end  walls  into  bays  similar  to 
those  in  the  remainder  of  the  church,  and  thus  provide  a uniform  eleva- 
tion and  window  arrangement  throughout  the  edifice.  In  spite  of  its 
uniformity  the  arrangement  is  an  awkward  one,  for  it  brings  a pier 
directly  in  the  center  of  the  transept  wall  where  it  would  be  more  natural 
to  find  a door.  The  five-part  vault  did  not,  therefore,  become  a general 
method  of  transept  termination,  though  there  is  a very  fine  example  of 
its  survival  in  the  church  of  Saint  Urbain  at  Troyes  (Aube)  (cir.  1262- 
1300).  It  may  even  be  that  the  desire  for  a regular  elevation  of  the  bays 
led  to  the  subdivision  of  the  transept  by  a row  of  central  piers,  such  as 
those  in  the  large  church  at  Saint  Nicolas-du-Port  (Meurthe-et-Moselle) 
(sixteenth  century)6  and  in  a number  of  smaller  examples,  some  of  them 
of  earlier  date.7 


Square  Chevets 

Such  a vault  as  that  just  described  was,  in  a way,  a sort  of  square 
chevet.8  It  was  built  to  provide  a better  arrangement  of  windows  in  the 
terminal  wall  than  would  be  possible  beneath  the  transverse  cell  of  a regu- 
lar four-  or  six-part  vault.  Nor  was  its  use  confined  to  the  transept  for 
it  is  found  with  a varying  number  of  cells  at  the  end  of  the  nave  and 
choir  as  well.  Such  Norman  churches  as  Saint  Georges  at  Saint  Martin- 
de-Boscherville  (Fig.  51),  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen  and  Saint  Cross  at 
Winchester  (choir  cir.  1135-1189)  are  examples  of  this,9  while  the  vaults 
of  the  transepts  of  Limburg  Cathedral10  (1235)  and  that  of  the  chapter 
house  at  Boscherville  (Fig.  52)  resemble  a chevet  even  more  closely  in  that 
all  but  one  of  their  severies  are  subdivided.  When  the  ribs  all  rise  from  the 
same  level,  the  appearance  of  such  a vault  is  pleasing,  but  when, — as  in  the 
nave  of  Boscherville  (Fig.  51), 11 — the  intermediate  ribs  are  shortened, 

" Illustrated  in  Enlart,  I,  Fig.  318,  opp.  p.  588. 

7 Saint  Jean-au-Bois  (Oise)  (twelfth  century);  Bpinal  (Vosges)  (thirteenth  century); 
Valentigny  and  Vendeuvre  (Aube)  ; Roberval,  Vauciennes,  and  Verberie  (Oise)  ; Brunem- 
bert  (Pas-de-Calais)  ; etc. 

8 See  p.  131,  note  16  for  explanation  of  the  use  of  the  word  chevet. 

’See  also  Tour  (Calvados),  Ch.  Illustrated  in  Dehio  and  von  Bezold,  II,  p.  187.  Rys 
(Calvados),  Ch.  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot  II,  pi.  12;  Omonville-la-Rogue,  Ch.  Baudot 
and  Perrault-Dabot,  II,  pi.  46;  Puiseaux  (Loiret),  Ch.  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  III, 
pi.  28. 

10  Hartung,  III,  pi.  134. 

11  There  is  a similar  vault  in  the  transept. 


Fig.  51. — Saint  Martin-de-Boscherville,  Saint  Georges. 


Fig.  52. — Saint  Martin-de-Boscherville,  Saint  Georges,  Chapter-house. 


I IO 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


the  effect  is  very  unsatisfactory,  though  this  shortening  of  the  ribs  prob- 
ably had  a structural  advantage  in  preventing  the  light  from  being  partly 
cut  off,  or  the  windows  partly  concealed  by  the  radiants  and  the  masonry 
above  them. 

Vaulting  of  Semicircular  Transepts 

The  vaulting  of  the  transept  naturally  differs  from  that  in  the  nave 
when  the  former  is  given  a semicircular  termination.  In  Romanesque 
transepts  of  this  type,  the  vaults  are  in  the  form  either  of  simple  half 
domes,  or  of  tunnel  vaults  ending  in  such  domes,  according  as  the  transept 
arms  are  lengthened  or  left  merely  in  the  form  of  apses.  Many  churches 
of  both  these  types,  but  usually  of  small  size,  are  to  be  found  in  southern 
France,12  while  others  appear  in  Italy  and  still  others  in  the  north  of 
Europe,13  where  such  a church  as  that  of  Rolduc  (Belgium)  was  con- 
sidered by  its  builders  as  built  in  a Lombard  manner,  “scemate  longo- 
bardico,”14  indicating  that  the  semicircular  transept  was  thought,  at  least, 
to  be  of  Lombard  origin.  The  most  highly  developed  transepts  of  this 
tunnel-vaulted,  half-domed  type  are  probably  those  in  the  church  of  Saint 
Mary  of  the  Capitol  at  Cologne,  where  a groin-vaulted  ambulatory  is 
found  around  each  transept  apse.  Somewhat  similar  in  plan  are  the 
transepts  of  Tournai  cathedral  in  Belgium  (between  cir.  1110-1170) 
(Fig.  53),  except  that  here  the  surrounding  aisle  is  very  narrow,  and, 
more  important  still,  the  half  dome  is  replaced  by  a clumsy  chevet  vault 
with  very  heavy  ribs,  their  haunches  raised  to  support  a series  of  ramping 
and  contracting  tunnel  vaults.  This  construction  is  very  similar  to  the 
framework  of  such  a dome  as  that  of  the  Baptistery  at  Florence.  Nor  is 
it  without  advantages,  since  it  greatly  reduces  the  vault  thrusts  and  there- 
fore renders  unnecessary  the  use  of  flying-buttresses,15  and  at  the  same 
time  permits  the  windows  to  rise  above  the  level  of  its  impost.  The  next 
semicircular  transept  of  importance  is  that  of  Noyon  cathedral  (cir. 

13  Among  them:  Lerins,  Chapelle  de  la  Trinite.  Illustrated  in  Revoil  I,  pi.  1;  St.  Martin- 
de-Londres,  Ch.  Revoil,  I,  pi.  XXXIII. 

”For  example:  Querqueville  (Manche). 

14  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  530. 

16  An  earlier  transept  with  similar  vaulting  may  have  existed  in  church  of  St.  Lucien 
at  Beauvais  (1090-1109),  but  this  church  was  unfortunately  destroyed  during  the  Revolu- 
tion. See  Enlart,  I,  p.  480,  note  3. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 1 1 


1 1 40), 16  where  there  is  a developed  chevet  of  what  will  later  be  called 
the  buttressing  ribbed  type.17  More  developed  still  is  the  south  transept 
of  Soissons  cathedral  (1176-1207),  which  possesses  an  ambulatory  in  two 
stories  with  three  bays  of  trapezoidal  four-part  ribbed  vaults  correspond- 


Fig.  53. — Tournai,  Cathedral. 


ing  to  each  principal  vaulting  bay.  The  transept  proper  is  covered  by  a 
rectangular  vault18  and  a broken-ribbed  chevet  with  very  broad  window 
cells.  Other  examples  of  semicircular  transepts  could  be  cited,  both  of 
the  Romanesque  and  Gothic  periods,19  but  either  they  do  not  present  any 
vaulting  forms  not  already  discussed  or  they  will  be  described  in  connec- 
tion with  the  apse  proper.  That  the  plan  had  a long  lease  of  life,  if  not  a 
very  extensive  usage,  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  appears  in  such  seven- 
teenth century  churches  as  that  of  the  Lycee  Corneille  at  Rouen  (beg.  cir. 

18  Similar  transepts  at  Breslau,  Heiligekreuze ; Paderborn,  Cath. ; Marburg,  St.  Elizabeth. 

17  The  development  and  construction  of  chevet  vaults  is  discussed  in  Chapter  III. 

18  Apparently  later  than  the  chevet. 

18  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  490  note  3 and  Lasteyrie,  pp.  285  and  5 22  for  lists.  Also  Neufchatel 
(Seine  Inferieure)  fifteenth  century.  Porter,  II,  p.  95. 

20  Plan  in  Gurlitt,  p.  22. 


1 12 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1614), 20  and  is  found  in  numerous  Renaissance  churches  in  which  the 
vaulting  returns  to  the  earlier  tunnel  and  half-dome  forms.21 

The  Vaults  of  Transept  Aisles  and  Chapels 

As  the  transept  developed  in  importance  aisles  were  added,  sometimes 
merely  along  the  east  walls,  but  often  along  the  west  as  well,22  and  even 
across  the  ends,  especially  in  churches  where  such  tribunes  provided  for 
a continuation  of  the  triforium  gallery.23  In  such  transepts  the  side 
aisles  are  vaulted  just  as  those  belonging  to  naves  of  a corresponding 
period,  and  therefore  require  no  discussion  here.  More  important  are 
the  chapels  which  open  off  of  the  transept,  usually  from  the  eastern  wall. 
In  general  these  consist  of  a semicircular  apse  either  with  or  without  one 
or  more  preceding  bays.  During  the  Romanesque  period  such  chapels 
were  generally  covered  with  a half  dome  sometimes  preceded  by  a tunnel 
vault  as  in  Saint  Georges-de-Boscherville,  while  after  the  introduction  oif 
ribbed  vaults,  these  and  the  chevet  replace  the  tunnel  vaults  and  half 
domes  in  their  respective  positions.  Sometimes  the  chapels  are  square, 
especially  in  Cistercian  churches.  They  are  then  covered  either  with 
tunnel  vaults,  as  in  Ivirkstall  Abbey,  or  with  ribbed  vaults  in  the  Gothic 
period.  Usually  all  these  radiating  chapels  are  but  one  story  in  height, 
but  in  the  cathedral  of  Laon,  two  beautiful  chapels  more  than  a semi- 
circle in  plan  and  two  stories  in  height  appear,  one  at  the  east  end  of  both 
the  north  and  south  aisles  of  the  transept  (Fig.  54).  These  chapels  are 
vaulted  with  seven-part  chevets,  and  form,  with  the  aisles  and  tribunes 
preceding  them,  veritable  churches  inside  of  the  cathedral.  Chapels  of 
similar  character,  but  practically  a full  circle  in  plan  and  vaulted  with  a 
double  chevet,  are  also  to  be  seen  in  the  two  lower  stories  of  the  transept 
of  Soissons  cathedral.  They  open  off  of  the  aisles  and  galleries  through 
three  slender  arches,  and  the  view  into  them  from  the  transept  proper 
affords  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  Gothic  perspective. 


21  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  480  note  3 and  Lasteyrie,  pp.  285  and  522  for  further  examples. 

22  In  rare  instances,  as  in  Saint  Hilaire  at  Poitiers,  there  are  aisles  along  the  west 
wall  only,  but  this  is  due  to  a rebuilding  of  the  church. 

“Toulouse,  Saint  Sernin;  Reims,  Saint  Remi  (originally)  (see  Lasteyrie,  p.  282)  ; Win- 
chester, Cath.  (1079-1093)  (Rivoira,  II,  p.  205).  Tribunes  are  also  to  be  seen  in  churches 
without  a triforium  gallery  along  the  transept  walls  as  for  example  in  Saint  Georges-de- 
Boscherville,  Cerisy-la-Foret  (1030-1066),  etc.  See  list  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  236,  note  1. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 13 


Crossing  Vaults 

The  intersection  of  the  nave  and  transept  was  usually  treated  by  the 
Romanesque  builders  as  a distinctive  vaulting  bay.  Occasionally,  in  the 
tunnel-vaulted  churches,  the  builders  allowed  the  vault  of  nave  and  tran- 
sept to  intersect  and  form  a groined  vault  at  the  crossing,  as,  for  example, 
in  Saint  Etienne  at  Beaugency  (after  1050)  (Loiret)24  and  in  the  church 


Fig.  54. — Laon,  Cathedral,  Transept  Triforium  Chapel. 


of  Boisney  (Eure).25  Groined  vaults  are  also  found  in  this  position  in 
certain  churches,  like  those  of  the  Rhenish  provinces,  where  similar  vaults 
are  used  in  the  nave.  But  as  a general  rule,  the  crossing  of  the  Roman- 

34  See  Lasteyrie,  p.  539  and  'Enlart,  I,  p.  265,  note  1. 

25  See  Ruprich-Robert,  II,  p.  3. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


114 

esque  church  is  covered  by  a dome  resting  on  spherical  pendentives  or 
squinches,  either  unraised  or  else  placed  on  a drum,  which  thus  forms  a 
lantern  with  windows  to  light  the  church  interior.  There  is  no  necessity 
for  an  extended  discussion  of  raised  and  unraised  domes,  since  as  far  as 
construction  is  concerned  they  differ  only  in  the  fact  that  when  raised  on 
a lantern  they  are  somewhat  more  difficult  to  support  because  the  vaults 
of  choir,  nave,  and  transept  no  longer  serve  as  buttressing  members.  The 
custom,  however,  of  erecting  a tower  even  above  the  raised  domes  offset 
to  a large  extent  the  thrusts  which  they  created. 

Sometimes  these  Romanesque  crossing  domes  are  of  circular  plan  and 
supported  on  spherical  pendentives.  These  are  common  in  the  school  of 
Perigord,  where  examples  are  afforded  by  the  cathedral  of  Perigueux 
(Fig.  1)  or  the  abbey  church  of  Solignac.26  But  the  use  of  such  domes 
on  spherical  pendentives  was  not  confined  to  Perigord.  They  are  found 
in  Poitou  and  Les  Charentes,  in  the  Southwest,  and  even  in  Limousin.27 
One  of  the  best  examples,  and  one  in  which  there  is  a circular  drum  below 
the  dome,  appears  in  the  church  of  Le  Dorat  (cir.  middle  twelfth  century) 
(Haute-Vienne).28  Very  occasionally,  also,  the  flat  triangular  pendentive 
is  used,  as  in  Notre  Dame  at  Chauvigny  (Vienne).29 

Lantern  Towers 

The  use  of  a lantern  tower  with  windows  opening  into  the  church 
below  its  roof  was  destined  to  give  rise  to  a number  of  interesting  vaults. 
That  such  towers  existed  in  France  as  early  as  the  sixth  century,  is 
proved  by  the  texts  of  Gregory  of  Tours  and  Fortunatus,  in  which  such 
lanterns  are  mentioned  as  existing  over  the  churches  of  Saint  Martin  at 
Tours,  the  cathedrals  of  Clermont-Ferrand,  Narbonne,  and  Paris,  as  well 
as  at  Bordeaux  and  Nantes,30  while  Rivoira’s  contention31  that  the  church 
of  San  Salvatore  or  del  Crocifisso  at  Spoleto  dates  from  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, if  correct,  would  give  an  earlier  though  isolated  Italian  example  of 
such  a feature.  Whatever  its  origin,  such  a lantern  was  a particularly 
pleasing  feature  of  church  construction,  especially  in  Romanesque  churches, 

26  Lasteyrie,  p.  271,  Fig.  264. 

27  For  other  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  335,  notes  3-4-5. 

2,1  Lasteyrie,  p.  336,  Fig.  359. 

a See  Lasteyrie,  p.  270. 

30  See  Enlart,  I,  pp.  123,  124. 

81  See  Rivoira,  II,  pp.  27,  29. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


US 

which  were  without  direct  light  in  the  nave  and  thus  received  a much 
needed  addition  to  their  interior  illumination.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, to  find  many  of  the  more  daring  Romanesque  builders  including  this 
central  feature  even  in  crossings  with  domes,  as  has  already  been  noted. 
As  a rule  the  pendentives  were  introduced  beneath  the  wall  of  the  clere- 
story drum  which  was  therefore  either  of  octagonal  or  circular  plan. 
The  examples  of  such  lanterns  are  too  numerous  to  cite  though  certain 
of  them  are  worthy  of  some  remark.  In  Auvergne,  for  example,  in 
Notre  Dame-du-Port  at  Clermont-Ferrand  (Figs.  49,  50),  at  Orci- 
val  (Puy-de-Dome),32  Saint  Nectaire  (Puy-de-Dome) ,33  and  elsewhere 
the  system  of  transept  and  crossing  vaulting  already  described34  made  pos- 
sible the  introduction  of  windows  in  either  the  east  or  west  walls  of  the 
central  towers,  or  both,  though  rarely  in  those  to  the  north  or  the  south, 
where  there  were  half  or  full  tunnel  vaults  to  abut  the  dome.  In  two 
churches  of  Central  France,  those  at  BeneventTAbbaye  (Creuse)35  and 
Le  Dorat  (Haute  Vienne),36  the  lanterns  are  especially  beautiful.  They 
are  covered  with  domes  raised  on  a drum  supported  upon  spherical  pen- 
dentives. In  such  churches,  where  there  is  no  direct  light  in  the  nave, 
the  lantern  adds  much  to  the  appearance  of  an  otherwise  oppressively 
dark  interior. 

Ribbed  Domes 

Another  lantern  of  interest  is  to  be  seen  in  southern  France  in  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame-des-Doms  at  Avignon  (probably  cir.  middle 
of  twelfth  century).37  Here  the  transepts  are  narrower  than  the  nave 
and  in  order  to  make  the  crossing  square,  a series  of  four  arches  has 
been  thrown  across  between  the  spandrels  of  the  nave  and  choir  arches, 
Over  the  square  thus  formed  is  an  octagonal  lantern  on  squinches  which 
in  turn  supports  a circular  dome  with  the  unusual  feature  of  a series  of 
flat  pilaster-like  ribs  along  its  under  surface.  Such  ribs  are,  of  course, 
largely  decorative  and  correspond  to  those  found  in  the  apses  of  many 
neighboring  churches.38  True  ribbed  domes  were  also  used  as  a means 

32  Lasteyrie,  p.  445,  Fig.  463. 

"Lasteyrie,  p,  316,  Fig.  338. 

34  See  p.  106. 

35  Lasteyrie,  p.  249,  Fig.  239. 

3S  Lasteyrie,  p.  336,  Fig.  359. 

” See  also  Marseilles, — La  Major. 

,8  See  p.  124. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 16 

of  covering  the  crossing,30  and  this  is  but  natural  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  such  domes  were  quite  frequently  employed  over  circular  churches, 


Fig.  55. — Laon,  Church  of  the  Templars. 

as  for  example  Saint  Sepulchre  at  Cambridge,  and  the  Templar’s  Chapel 
at  Laon  (Lig.  55), 40  while  half  domes  of  similar  character  appear  over 
many  apses  of  the  Transitional  period.41 

Lobed  Domes 

Similar  domes  to  that  just  described  at  Avignon  are  quite  common  in 
Spain,  where  for  that  matter  the  lantern  itself  -had  a very  remarkable  de- 
velopment. Thus  in  the  cathedral  of  Zamora  (consecrated  1144)  there  is 
a dome  with  sixteen  ribs.  It  is  not  of  perfectly  simple  type,  however, 
for  the  masonry  between  the  ribs  is  curved  slightly  outward,  giving  it  the 

Either  with  or  without  a lantern  beneath  them.  Examples:  Montagne  (Gironde); 

Nantillc,  Notre  Dame;  Saumur,  St.  Pierre.  See  Michel,  II,  p.  108  and  Lasteyrie,  p.  479. 

4,1  See  also  such  other  buildings  as  the  'Chateau  de  Simiane  (Basses-Alpes)  (apparently 
twelfth  century).  Illustrated  in  Revoil,  III,  pi.  VIII. 

41  See  p.  125. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


ii  7 

form  of  a lobed  dome.4'  The  lobes  are  comparatively  small,  but  other- 
wise not  unlike  such  larger  ones  as  those  in  SS.  Sergius  and  Bacchus  at 
Constantinople  (cir.  527)  and  the  Serapeum  of  the  Villa  Adriana  at  Ti- 
voli (125-135).  As  far  as  construction  is  concerned  this  arrangement 
made  it  possible  to  lay  up  the  masonry  between  the  ribs  with  little  or  no 
centering,  so  that  once  the  ribs  were  in  place,  the  task  of  completing  the 
dome  was  a comparatively  simple  one.  Unlike  the  “Gothic  dome  which 
is  later  discussed,  the  thrusts  were  not  materially  decreased  by  the  lobed 
plan  and  in  its  essentials  the  dome  thus  formed  was  precisely  like  the 
simple  type.  From  the  point  of  view  of  appearance  these  Spanish  lanterns 
are  certainly  very  beautiful.  Usually  pierced  with  windows  in  twelve  out 
of  the  sixteen  bays,  and  sometimes,  as  at  Salamanca,  with  a few  windows 
in  the  lower  of  the  two  stages  forming  the  drum,  they  admit  a great  quan- 
tity of  light  to  the  very  heart  of  the  church  where  its  presence  is  most 
needed.  Moreover,  the  spherical  pendentives  from  which  the  lanterns 
rise  are  more  pleasing  than  the  squinches  generally  found  in  France. 

“Gothic  Domes”  or  Double  Chevets 

Because  of  its  resemblance  to  such  ribbed  domes  as  those  just  described 
it  may  be  well  to  discuss  here  what  may  be  called  a “Gothic  dome”  if 
such  a term  be  permissible.  This  is,  in  other  words,  the  familiar  chevet 
vault  extended  to  cover  a space  of  circular  or  octagonal  plan.  One  of 
these  vaults  of  circular  plan  and  with  eight  ribs  appears  over  the  crossing 
of  Saint  Nicolas  at  Blois  (Fig.  56).  Unlike  the  ribbed  dome,  its  masonry 
courses  are  not  horizontal  and  concentric  with  the  impost  line,  but  prac- 
tically at  right  angles  to  it,  thus  giving  wall  arches  whose  crowns  are 
nearly  as  high  as  the  central  keystone  itself.  Each  window  cell  is  thus 
precisely  like  one-quarter  of  a four-part  cross-ribbed  vault.  It  was  this 
form  of  double  chevet  vault  which  was  frequently  used  as  late  as  the 
Renaissance  period  in  Italy,  where  it  appears  in  such  works  as  the  Pazzi 
chapel  at  Florence  (cir.  1420)  (Fig.  57)  and  elsewhere  though  without 

42  Similar  domes  may  be  seen  in  the  old  cathedral  of  Salamanca  (finished  before  1178). 
(Moore,  Character  of  Renaissance  Architecture,  p.  57,  Fig.  28.)  [Street,  (Fig.  7,  op.  p.  80) 
shows  this  dome  as  having  fiat  severies,  and  does  not  mention  the  fact  that  they  are 
curved,  as  he  takes  pains  to  do  in  regard  to  Zamora]  ; and  the  collegiate  church  at  Toro 
(begun  cir.  1160-1170,  finished  in  thirteenth  century),  (Michel,  II,  p.  108,  Fig.  76).  It  is 
difficult  to  tell  from  the  photograph  whether  this  last  example  has  the  lobed  vault  surface. 


Fig.  56. — Blois,  Saint  Nicholas. 


Fig.  57. — Florence,  Pazzi  Chapel. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 19 

any  wall  rib.  These  “Gothic  domes”  were  frequently  polygonal  as  well 
as  circular.  Thus  in  the  cathedral  of  Worms  (Fig.  58)  there  is  an  octag- 
onal lantern,  on  squinches,  surmounted  by  a vault  with  eight  cells  of 
decidedly  domical  type,  the  whole  being  only  slightly  different  from  a 


Fig.  58. — Worms,  Cathedral. 


lobed  dome.  A more  developed  double  chevet,  dating  from  the  second 
half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  appears  over  the  crossing  of  the  cathedral  of 
Evreux  (Eure),43  where  there  is  also  a complete  system  of  ribs.44  The 
form  of  the  pendentives  is  that  of  flat  triangles,  and  they  are  decorated 
with  elaborate  designs  in  flamboyant  tracery.  Similar  flat  triangles  but 
with  a series  of  mouldings  at  the  top,  are  used  to  support  the  octagonal 
lantern  of  Coutances  cathedral  (Fig.  59),  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  in 
France,  and  apparently  dating  from  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  Its  vault  is  in  sixteen  cells,  two  to  each  lantern  wall,  and  each 

43  Illustrated  in  Simpson,  II,  p.  104. 

44  There  is  an  earlier  and  somewhat  similar  crossing  vault  in  the  church  of  S.  Marien  at 
Gelnhausen  (1225-on)  Hartung,  III,  pi.  145. 


120 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


containing  a lofty  window,  the  whole  clerestory  rising  above  a lower  stage 
of  coupled  arches  with  a narrow  passage  behind  them. 

A crossing  vault  of  similar  character,  but  with  a change  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  ribs,  which  form  an  eight-pointed  star  around  a central 


octagonal  opening,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  cathedral  of  Saragossa  in  Spain 
(after  1500), 45  while  the  final  stage  in  such  vaulting,  in  which  the  ribs 
become  merely  a framework  beneath  a flat  ceiling,  but  nevertheless  a 
framework  of  elaborate  and  beautiful  design,  may  be  seen  over  the  cross- 
ing of  the  cathedral  of  Burgos  (finished  1568). 46 

Square  Lanterns  with  Eight-Part  Vaults 

There  now  remain  for  discussion  lantern  towers  of  square  plan.  This 
was  the  form  almost  universally  employed  in  Normandy,  England,  and 
churches  which  came  under  Norman  influence,  especially  in  the  earlier 
Gothic  period.  During  the  Romanesque  epoch  such  lanterns  were  wooden 
roofed.  But  with  the  introduction  of  the  ribbed  vault,  an  eight-part  vault 
was  devised  for  this  crossing,  whose  severies  were  precisely  like  those 

4C  Michel,  IV,  p.  829,  Fig.  546. 

40  Michel,  TV,  p.  828,  Fig.  545. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING  121 

above  the  windows  in  six-part  vaulting,  from  which,  in  fact,  this  new 
type  probably  developed. 

Most  of  the  towers  originally  wooden  roofed  have  since  been  vaulted, 
and  it  is  therefore  difficult  to  judge  of  their  original  character.  Iheir  im- 
posing interior  appearance,  however,  may  be  judged  from  the  ruins  of  the 
abbey  church  of  Jumieges  (1040-1067).  It  would  seem,  from  the  places, 
for  beam  ends  left  in  the  wall,  that  such  lanterns  as  this  were  generally 
roofed  with  a flat  ceiling  above  the  first  stage  of  openings,  the  second 
series  probably  forming  a belfry.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  when  vaulting 
comes  in,  to  find  it  placed  at  the  level  of  the  former  flat  ceiling  with  only 
the  lower  openings  used  as  windows,  leaving  the  walls  above  to  offset  the 
thrusts  of  the  vault  by  their  downward  pressure.  A somewhat  rudimentary 
vault  of  this  eight-part  character  may  be  seen  in  Saint  Georges-de-Boscher- 
ville,47  in  which  the  wall  arches  are  omitted  and  all  the  ribs  made  to  spring 
from  corbels.  This,  of  course,  is  because  the  Norman  Romanesque  cross- 
ings were  not  originally  planned  for  vaulting.  A little  later,  wall  ribs  were 
regularly  used,  and  in  Saint  Yved  at  Braisne  (consecrated  1215) 48  the 
four  major  ribs  have  their  supports  running  all  the  way  to  the  floor,  while 
in  the  cathedral  of  Laon  (after  1165)  (Fig.  60)  even  the  eight  wall  ribs 
which  rise  from  the  corners  of  the  tower  are  similarly  carried  down.  Of 
course  the  intermediate  ribs  necessarily  rise  from  corbels,  but  in  the  de- 
veloped crossings  of  this  type  such  corbels  are  placed  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  crowns  of  the  four  great  arches  of  the  nave,  choir,  and  transepts. 
Similar  lanterns  are  to  be  seen  in  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  at  Cluny, 
and  in  Saint  Maclou  at  Rouen  (lantern  cir.  1511),49  where,  however, 
ridge  ribs  are  added  in  each  of  the  eight  cells. 

Notwithstanding  the  examples  cited,  the  use  of  a lantern  is  not  common 
in  developed  Gothic  architecture.  This  is  perhaps  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
rapidly  increasing  size  of  the  clerestory  made  such  an  addition  to  the 
lighting  equipment  unnecessary,  though  it  is  more  probable  that  the  great 
height  of  many  of  the  churches  rendered  the  construction  of  a tower  over 
the  crossing  a dangerous  undertaking.  Even  in  the  less  lofty  churches  of 

47  It  is  possible  that  this  vault  is  of  wood. 

48  Simpson,  II,  Fig.  68,  opp.  p.  104. 

49  Simpson,  II,  Fig.  69,  opp.  p.  164. 


122 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


England,  where  a central  tower  is  almost  invariably  found,  the  latter  is 
frequently  closed  from  below  by  a vault. 

r 

Rib-Vaulted  Crossings  with  no  Lanterns 

Where  there  is  no  lantern,  the  vault  of  the  crossing  is  generally  a 
continuation  of  that  of  the  nave  or  transepts.  It  is,  therefore,  often  of 
simple  four-part  cross-ribbed  type,  with  or  without  a domed  up  crown.50 


Fig.  6o. — Laon,  Cathedral. 


Certain  of  the  Gothic  builders,  however,  even  in  the  early  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, realized  the  advantage  to  be  gained  by  subdividing  the  cells  of  the 
crossing  vault  with  ridge  ribs.  Hence  in  the  abbey  church  of  Fossanova 
(consecrated  in  1208), 51  as  well  as  in  those  at  Casamari  and  Arbona'2  in 

“Examples  are  furnished  by:  Florence,  S.  M.  Novella;  Sens,  Cath.  (Fig.  28);  Paris, 
N.  D. ; Soissons,  Cath. ; Cologne,  Cath. ; to  cite  but  a few  churches. 

“ Cummings,  II,  p.  141,  Fig.  330. 

M Cummings,  II,  p.  149,  Fig.  335. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


123 


Italy,  and  in  many  churches  of  France/3  especially  those  of  Anjou  type/4 
transverse  and  longitudinal  ridge  ribs  were  used  and  in  most  instances 
the  vault  was  considerably  domed  up.  In  Amiens  cathedral  (cir.  1265) 
the  crossing  vault,  nearly  forty  feet  square  and  about  one  hundred  and 
forty  feet  from  the  ground,  was  further  subdivided  by  a single  pair  of 
tiercerons  in  each  of  the  major  severies,  and  the  eight  central  panels  thus 
formed  were  raised  at  the  crown  to  reduce  the  thrusts  of  the  vault  as  well 
as  the  amount  of  centering  necessary  for  its  construction.  After  its  in- 
troduction at  Amiens  this  form  of  crossing  was  quite  extensively  employed, 
sometimes  with  its  ridge  ribs  running  completely  across  the  bay,  as  for 
example,  in  Auxerre  cathedral,  sometimes  running  only  to  the  keystone  of 
the  tiercerons,  as  in  Bayonne  and  Troyes  cathedrals  or  Saint  Euverte  at 
Orleans. 

With  the  use  of  many  added  ribs  in  other  portions  of  the  church,  came 
a corresponding  elaboration  in  the  vaults  of  the  crossing.  Thus  many 
examples  might  be  cited  of  lierne  and  tierceron  vaulting  in  all  degrees  of 
complexity,  especially  in  England,53  while  fan  vaulting  is  to  be  seen  in 
the  abbey  church  of  Bath  (cir.  1500-1590), 56  and  pendant  vaults  of  elab- 
orate character  in  Saint  Etienne-du-Mont  at  Paris  (probably  cir.  1550- 
1600).  Occasionally  also  the  transept  is  subdivided  by  a central  row  of 
piers  in  which  case  the  vault  of  the  crossing  is  in  two  bays.57  It  is  un- 
necessary, however,  to  discuss  at  length  these  exceptional  crossing  types 
since  they  do  not  differ  structurally  from  the  vaulting  systems  already 
described  in  connection  with  the  nave. 

™ For  example  in  Dol,  Cath.;  Etampes,  Saint  Gilles;  Bayeux,  Cath.,  etc. 

54  For  example  in  Angers,  Cath.  (Fig.  19)  : Bordeaux,  Saint  Michel,  etc. 

65  Numerous  illustrations  may  be  found  in  Bond,  Gothic  Architecture  in  England  and 
English  Church  Architecture. 

M Most  of  the  vaulting  is  modern  but  built  as  originally  planned. 

An  example  of  this  arrangement  may  be  seen  at  Saint  Nicolas-du-Port  (Meurthe-et- 
Moselle).  Enlart,  Fig.  318,  opp.  p.  588. 


CHAPTER  III 


APSE  VAULTS 

The  traditional  method  of  terminating  the  church  edifice  at  the  end 
reserved  for  the  clergy  was  by  means  of  a semicircular  or  polygonal  apse, 
and  this  method,  which  was  of  Roman  origin,  continued  to  be  followed  in 
the  majority  of  Romanesque  and  Gothic  churches.  Such  apses  gave  to  the 
interior  of  the  edifice  a more  dignified  appearance  than  was  possible  with 
a flat  east  wall,  by  avoiding  the  abrupt  termination  which  the  latter  pro- 
duced and  by  emphasizing  the  central  point  in  the  sanctuary,  which  was 
occupied  by  the  high  altar  in  most  of  the  mediaeval  churches. 

Apses  Vaulted  with  Half  Domes 

Once  adopted  from  Roman  architecture  as  a standard  part  of  the 
church  plan,  the  construction  of  the  apse  was  naturally  based  upon  Roman 
models,  and  since  these  were  always  vaulted  with  a half  dome  of  masonry, 
similar  half  domes  were  employed  by  the  Christian  builders  of  the  early 
mediaeval  period.  During  the  Romanesque  era,  these  half  domes  were 
almost  always  of  stone  laid  in  horizontal  courses,  supported  by  substantial 
walls  of  semicircular  or  polygonal  plan.  They  opened  directly  into  a tran- 
sept or  a tunnel-vaulted  choir.  The  earliest  of  these  half  domes  were  of 
semicircular  elevation,  but  the  pointed  form  made  its  appearance  in  the  late 
eleventh  or  early  twelfth  century  in  many  churches.  In  both  forms,  the 
principles  of  construction  are  the  same. 

Lighting  Problems  Connected  with  the  Construction  of  Half 

Domed  Apses 

It  is  a characteristic  of  the  half  dome  that  it  exerts  a large  amount  of 
downward  pressure  and  but  little  outward  thrust,  particularly  if  it  be  of 
pointed  section.  For  this  reason,  such  a vault  requires  a firm  support  but 
only  a slight  amount  of  buttressing.  As  long,  therefore,  as  the  half  dome 


124 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


i25 


rested  directly  upon  comparatively  low  exterior  walls,  it  had  plenty  of 
support,  and  it  was  even  possible  to  pierce  the  walls  with  windows  without 
endangering  its  stability.  But  with  the  increase  in  height  of  the  more 
developed  Romanesque  churches  and  the  introduction  of  ambulatories,  it 
became  difficult  to  light  the  sanctuary  and  still  retain  the  half  dome. 

Two  methods  were  evolved  for  overcoming  this  difficulty.  The  first, 
which  may  be  seen  in  the  abbey  church  at  Cunault  (Maine-et-Loire)  (sec- 
ond half  of  twelfth  century),1  consisted  in  the  construction  of  a lofty  am- 
bulatory opening  into  the  apse  through  arches  rising  to  the  impost  of  the 
half  dome,  or  even  slightly  above  it,  and  resting  upon  piers  of  as  slender 
proportions  as  possible,  so  that,  although  the  sanctuary  was  deprived  of 
all  direct  light,  a certain  amount  was  obtained  from  windows  in  the  outer 
wall  of  the  ambulatory  or  from  the  radiating  chapels,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  vault  of  this  ambulatory  aided  in  the  support  of  the  apse  and  vice 
versa.  Such  a system,  though  structurally  correct,  was  not  entirely  satis- 
factory. The  sanctuary  and  choir  were  the  portions  of  the  church  most  in 
need  of  lighting,  since  they  contained  the  altar  and  the  seats  for  the  monks 
or  clergy  by  whom  the  services  were  chanted,  and  indirect  light  was  bound 
to  be  insufficient. 

The  second  method,  which  may  be  seen  in  the  church  of  Saint  Savin 
(Vienne)  (eleventh  century),2  consisted  in  reducing  the  height  of  the 
ambulatory,  even  when  this  involved  making  it  lower  than  the  side  aisles, 
and  then  placing  a clerestory  above  the  ambulatory  arches  beneath  the 
springing  of  the  half  dome.  This  may  be  considered  as  the  best  type  of 
apsidal  termination  developed  during  the  purely  Romanesque  period.  It 
was  only  when  the  half  dome  was  discarded  that  a satisfactory  solution 
was  finally  reached  in  the  development  of  the  chevet  vault.  There  were, 
however,  two  important  series  of  ribbed  half  domes,  the  second  of  which, 
at  least,  may  have  had  some  bearing  upon  the  evolution  of  the  chevet  type. 

Apses  with  Ribbed  Half  Domes 

The  first  series  lies  largely  in  southern  France  in  the  Romanesque 
school  of  Provence.  Here  there  are  a certain  number  of  churches,  among 
them  the  chapel  of  Saint  Honorat  in  Les  Alyscamps  at  Arles  (Bouches- 

1 See  also  Poitiers,  Saint  Hilaire  (Fig.  7)  and  Notre  Dame-la-Grande,  etc. 

2 See  also  Toulouse,  Saint  Sernin ; Saint  Benoit— sur-Loire  (Fig.  13);  and  Nevers,  St. 
Etienne,  etc. 


126 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


du-Rhone)  (eleventh  century?),  in  which  the  surface  of  the  half  dome  is 
broken  out  at  regular  intervals  into  a number  of  flat,  pilaster-like,  radiating 
strips,  forming  a part  of  the  actual  masonry  of  the  vault.  These  divide  the 
half  dome  in  much  the  same  manner  as  true  Gothic  ribs,  but  they  do  not 
support  it  in  any  way  and  seem  to  have  been  used  for  the  decoration  which 
such  a change  in  the  surface  of  the  vault  produced.3  As  a general  rule, 
these  ribs  radiate  from  a point  slightly  back  from  the  crown  of  the  apse 
arch  and  often  from  a raised  masonry  ring  as  in  the  chapel  just  cited. 
They  vary,  however,  both  in  number,  thickness  and  width,  some  being 
comparatively  thick  and  widening  out  from  the  central  keystone  as  in  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame-des-Doms  at  Avignon  (Vaucluse),  others  being 
but  slightly  salient  and  of  the  same  width  throughout  like  those  in  Saint 
Honorat  at  Arles. 

Much  larger  in  number  and  extent  is  the  second  series  of  churches 
with  rib-vaulted  apses,  though  they  are  in  general  of  later  date  than  those 
in  Provence.  Their  radiants  have  a certain  structural  character,  for  they 
are  independent  of  the  vault  surface  and  were  doubtless  erected  in  most 
cases  as  a permanent  centering  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  the  half  dome. 
They  do  not,  however,  aid  to  any  extent  in  its  support,  for  the  courses  of 
masonry  in  the  vaults  are  still  horizontal  and  concentric  with  the  curve  of 
the  apse,  and  the  completed  half  domes  would  therefore  stand  just  as  well 
were  the  ribs  removed.  It  may  be  that  they  were  introduced  in  order  to 
make  the  apse  correspond  more  closely  in  appearance  with  the  ribbed 
vault  which  had  in  many  cases  been  introduced  in  the  naves  of  the  churches 
in  which  the  ribbed  half  domes  are  found.  In  any  event,  they  mark  a stage 
in  apse  vaulting  between  the  simple  half  dome  and  the  developed  chevet, 
which  is  worthy  of  careful  consideration.  Most  of  these  vaults  date  from 
the  second  quarter  of  the  twelfth  century  and  are  to  be  found  within  the 
zone  of  influence  of  the  Ile-de-France,  though  occasionally  an  example  is 
found  at  a long  distance  from  this  center  as  in  the  case  of  Sant’  Abondio 


3 They  may  have  been  inspired  by  the  salient  arches  of  such  a tunnel  vault  as  that  in 
the  Temple  of  Diana  at  Nimes,  and  in  any  event  would  seem  to  owe  their  origin  to 
classic  prototypes  and  to  be  largely  decorative,  a theory  which  is  strengthened  by  the 
appearance  of  such  a vault  as  that  in  the  little  church  of  Saint  Jean-de-Moustier,  at  Arles 
(probably  of  the  ninth  cenury)  (Revoil,  I,  pi.  XVI),  where  these  radiants  very  closely 
resemble  Corinthian  pilasters. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


127 


at  Como,4  Santa  Maria  di  Castello  at  Corneto-Tarquinia  in  Italy,0  and 
such  churches  as  that  of  the  Monasterio  de  la  Oliva  (Navarra)  in  Spain,'" 
(1198).  The  number  of  ribs  varies  considerably,  though  two  is  most 
common  particularly  in  the  smaller  churches  and  chapels.1 * 7  Of  these,  the 
church  at  Morienval  (Oise)  (Fig.  77)  furnishes  a good,  though  recently 
reconstructed,  example,  while  Saint  Georges-de-Boscherville  (Fig.  61) 
may  be  cited  as  possessing  a large  apse  of  similar  character. 

The  important  thing  in  a comparison  of  these  two  vaults  is  the  differ- 
ence in  the  lighting  of  the  completed  apse.  At  Boscherville,  it  was  a simple 
matter  to  pierce  the  exterior  wall  with  windows,  in  this  case  in  two  stages, 
and  still  keep  their  crowns  practically  below  the  level  of  the  impost  of  the 
half  dome,  since  the  latter  rested  directly  upon  the  outer  walls.  But  at 
Morienval  there  was  an  ambulatory,  and  in  order  to  get  a clerestory  above 
its  arches,  the  windows  had  to  be  cut  into  the  curved  surface  of  the  half 
dome  itself,  with  the  result  that  they  were  so  deep  as  to  prove  of  only 
limited  usefulness.  Other  examples  could  be  cited  where  this  same  at- 
tempt is  made  to  obtain  sufficiently  large  windows  by  shoving  their  heads 
into  the  half  dome,8  while  at  Beaulieu  (Correze)9  the  windows  lie  en- 
tirely above  the  impost. 

Besides  the  ribbed  half  dome  just  described,  there  is  still  another  type 
to  be  seen  in  the  Lady  chapel  of  the  church  of  Saint  Martin-des-Champs  at 
Paris  (Fig.  65).  Its  plan  is  a trefoil  and  the  vault  is  made  up  of  a series 

4 Dartein,  pi.  76. 

5 Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Fig.  62.  There  are  also  a number  of 
churches  of  the  more  developed  period  in  which  somewhat  similar  ribbed  half  domes 
are  found,  though  these  are  frequently  laid  up  in  flat  gores  over  polygonal  apses.  Ex- 
amples include:  Worms,  Cath.;  west  apse,  see  Fig.  58;  Florence,  Cath.  east  and  transept 
apses. 

0 Madrazo-Gurlitt,  pi.  178. 

7 Examples  include  Berzy-le-Sec  and  Laffaux  (Aisne)  ; Chelles  (Oise)  and  Bonnes 
(Vienne)  all  dating  cir.  1140-1150;  Bruyeres,  and  Vauxrezis  (Aisne)  probably  of  about 
the  same  date,  and  Torcy  (Aisne)  dating  from  the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century; 
Etampes,  St.  Martin,  radiating  chapel.  All  of  these  are  illustrated  in  Lefevre-Pontalis. 
Examples  with  three  ribs  include  Thor  (Vaucluse)  and  Saint  Pierre-de-Reddes  (Herault), 
both  illustrated  in  Revoil.  Example  with  four  ribs,  Como,  Sant’  Abondio.  Example  with 
five  ribs,  Montmajour  (Bouches-du-Rhone) , Ab.  Ch.  Revoil,  II,  pi.  XXXI.  For 
further  examples,  see  Porter,  II,  p.  78. 

“For  instance,  at  Vieil-Arcy,  Ch.  (Lefevre-Pontalis,  pi.  XLV),  where  there  are  no 
ribs  beneath  the  half  dome ; and  in  the  last  five  churches  with  two  ribs  listed  in  the  pre- 
ceding note. 

* Lasteyrie,  p.  450,  Fig.  470. 


Fig.  6i. — Saint  Martin-de-Boscherville,  Saint  Georges. 

surface  to  be  vaulted  and  clearly  marking  the  lines  of  intersection.  The 
vault  would  stand  equally  well  were  the  ribs  removed  and  is,  in  structural 
character,  very  similar  to  the  celled  domes  of  the  Villa  Adriana  at  Tivoli 
and  of  S.S.  Sergius  and  Bacchus  at  Constantinople. 

“Groined  Half  Domes” 


128  MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 

of  segments  of  domes  with  salient  ribs  marking  their  intersections.  As 
far  as  construction  is  concerned,  there  is  really  no  change  from  that  of  the 
more  common  half  dome,  for  the  courses  of  masonry  are  still  horizontal 
and  the  ribs  merely  serve  as  centering  and  as  a means  of  subdividing  the 


Another  form  of  apse  vault  of  which  there  would  seem  to  be  a number 
of  examples  prior  to  the  introduction  of  ribbed  vaulting  may  perhaps  be 
termed  the  “groined  half  dome.”  It  is  a vault  resembling  a segmental 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


129 


dome  except  that  the  segments  do  not  run  down  to  a common  impost,  but 
form  a series  of  window  cells  not  unlike  those  of  a groined  vault  but  not 
running  all  the  way  to  the  vault  crown.  The  earliest  of  these  vaults  ap- 
pears to  be  that  in  the  crypt  of  Saint  Laurent  at  Grenoble  (Isere)  (sixth 
century).10  Rivoira  has  shown11  that  Roman  prototypes  of  this  form  can 
be  found  in  the  so-called  “Temple  di  Siepe”  (second  century)  at  Rome,  the 
vestibule  of  the  Villa  Adriana  at  Tivoli  (125-135)  and  elsewhere.  There 
are  also  a number  of  Romanesque  examples.  Of  these,  one  is  in  the  chapel 
off  the  south  transept  of  Saint  Nicholas  at  Caen  ( 1080-1093) , 12  while  an- 
other is  to  be  found  in  Saint  Andrew’s  chapel  at  Canterbury  cathedral  (cir. 
iiio).13  These  vaults  closely  resemble  the  true  Gothic  chevet  which  was 
soon  to  follow  them,  and  they  might  seem  to  be  its  prototypes  were  it  not 
for  the  fact  that  their  construction  is  of  an  entirely  different  character.  All 
are  built  of  small  stone  or  rubble  and  were  undoubtedly  laid  up  on  a 
wooden  centering  with  no  particular  regard  for  the  direction  in  which  the 
masonry  courses  ran,  or  possibly  with  these  courses  like  those  in  a half 
dome.  The  construction  was  thus  a combination  of  half  dome  and  groined 
vaulting  and  not  at  all  of  the  ribbed  type.  That  they  may,  however,  have 
been  of  influence  in  the  development  of  the  true  chevet  will  be  later 
suggested. 

Apses  with  Lour-Part  Ribbed  Vaults 

A final  type  of  rather  primitive  vaulting  which  was  subsequent  to  the 
introduction  of  ribbed  vaulting  but  would  seem  to  be  prior  to  the  use  or 
at  least  to  the  extensive  knowledge  of  the  chevet,  consisted  in  the  employ- 
ment of  a simple  four-part  vault  over  the  semicircle  of  the  apse  (Plate 
II-a).14  The  result  was  an  awkward  kind  of  chevet  vault  which  is  worthy 
of  consideration  as  perhaps  having  a part  in  the  development  of  the  true 
Gothic  form.  It  might  properly  be  called  a four-part  cross-ribbed  apse 
vault. 

10  Rivoira,  II,  p.  38,  Fig.  399. 

11  Rivoira,  II,  pp.  39-40. 

12  Rivoira,  II,  p.  93. 

15  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  15,  Fig.  11. 

14  Forest-1’  Abbaye  (Somme)  (plan  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  447,  Fig.  211)  furnishes  one  example 
of  this  and  others  are  listed  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  447  and  note  2 at  the  foot  of  that  page. 


PLATE  II 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


131 


The  Chevet  Vault 

By  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  all  the  methods  of  apse  vaulting 
thus  far  described,  were  abandoned13  in  favor  of  the  ribbed  Gothic  chevet111 
which  was  then  developed.  In  this  new  vault  the  masonry  courses  are  no 
longer  horizontal  and  concentric  but  run  in  a generally  perpendicular  di- 
rection from  a series  of  radiating  ribs,  which  have  a common  keystone,  to 
a wall  rib  or  a curved  line  of  intersection  above  the  heads  of  a series  of 
apse  windows  in  whole  or  in  part  above  the  level  of  the  impost  of  the 
radiants.  In  other  words,  the  chevet  vault  consists  of  a series  of  triangular 
severies,  each  essentially  like  one  quarter  of  a four-part  cross-ribbed  vault. 

The  evolution  of  this  developed  chevet  from  the  earlier  types  of  apse 
vaulting  already  discussed  is  difficult  to  trace  and  in  fact  it  seems  most 
reasonable  to  imagine  that  it  was  a spontaneous  transformation  which  did 
not  require  any  intermediate  steps.  It  has,  for  instance,  been  pointed  out 
that  the  greatest  problem  of  the  apse  builder  was  to  place  a clerestory  of 
good  sized  windows  above  the  ambulatory  arcade  or  at  least  as  high  as 
possible  in  the  apse  wall  and  at  the  same  time  to  keep  the  pressures  and 
thrusts  of  his  vault  at  the  lowest  possible  point.  Imagine  then  a builder 
with  this  in  mind  starting  to  construct  a ribbed  half  dome  with  windows 
rising  above  its  impost.  Suppose  that  the  radiating  ribs  were  first  con- 
structed and  the  space  to  be  vaulted  thus  divided  into  triangular  compart- 
ments. Now  assume  that  the  builder  was  familiar  with  the  four-part 
cross-ribbed  vault — a reasonable  assumption  since  everything  seems  to 
point  to  an  earlier  date  for  such  vaults  than  for  the  ribbed  chevet.  Would 
he  not  be  prompt  to  see  that  a series  of  clerestory  windows  could  be  built 
around  the  apse  precisely  like  those  along  the  walls  of  nave  or  choir  and 
each  triangular  space  thus  formed,  be  covered  by  one  quarter  of  four-part 
vault?  Is  not  this  especially  reasonable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there 
existed  groined  vaults  of  just  this  type,17  exactly  as  there  existed  groined 
prototypes  out  of  which  sprang  the  simple  four-part  cross-ribbed  vault? 

10  There  are  occasionally  to  be  found  some  late  examples  showing  the  survival  of  the 
half  dome  as  an  apse  vault,  but  these  are  exceptional  after  cir.  1150,  until  the  Renaissance 
period. 

“The  word  chevet  is  used  here  and  elsewhere  as  referring  to  the  ribbed  vaulting  de- 
veloped and  applied  to  the  apse  of  the  Gothic  churches. 

17  See  p.  128,  129. 


J32 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Furthermore,  if  the  peculiar  four-part  apse  vaults  described  as  sometimes 
employed  in  transitional  churches  are  any  or  all  of  them  earlier  than  the 
earliest  of  the  true  chevets,  would  it  not  seem  as  if  the  builders  were  bent 
upon  using  quadripartite  vaulting  of  some  form,  even  over  the  apse,  in 
order  to  obtain  a clerestory?  Whatever  the  true  process  of  evolution  may 
have  been,  it  is  at  least  possible  that  the  above  explanations  are  correct  and 
that  the  chevet  vault  developed  directly  from  the  difficulty  of  placing  win- 
dows beneath  the  ribbed  half  dome.  If  such  was  the  case  another  type  of 
vault  would  seem  to  have  owed  its  origin  in  large  part  to  the  lighting 
problem. 

Types  of  Chevet  Vaults 

Once  introduced,  four  types  of  chevet  vault  were  gradually  established, 
not  counting  the  variation  which  each  of  them  underwent.  For  conven- 
ience, these  will  be  called  the  radiating-ribbed  type,  the  broken-ribbed  type, 
the  buttressing-ribbed  type,  and  finally  the  diagonal  or  cross-ribbed  type. 
Each  will  be  considered  in  turn  and  an  effort  made  to  trace  their  consec- 
utive development. 

The  chronology  of  these  vaults  is  very  difficult  to  determine.  In  fact, 
it  is  probably  safe  to  assume  that  the  earliest  example,  if  there  were  not  a 
number  of  these  vaults  simultaneously  constructed,  has  disappeared.  In 
any  event,  it  would  seem  that  the  vault  must  have  been  first  used  somewhere 
between  1130  and  1150  as  there  are  several  existing  examples  which  date 
from  this  period.  If  these  cannot  be  arranged  in  any  certain  order,  they 
may  at  least,  be  used  to  show  the  form  of  the  early  chevets. 

Radiating-Ribbed  Chevets 

Perhaps  the  most  primitive,  in  appearance  at  least,  is  that  above  the 
transept  of  Tournai  cathedral  (Fig.  53)  in  which,  as  has  been  noted,18  the 
extrados  of  each  rib  is  built  up  until  it  forms  a flat  sloping  upper  surface, 
each  cell  of  the  vault  proper  rising  from  the  ramps  thus  formed.  Next  to 
this  vault  at  Tournai,  and  as  a matter  of  fact,  probably  of  earlier  date 
though  of  more  developed  type  are  the  two  chevet  vaults  of  Largny 
(Aisne)  (cir.  1140). 19  and  Azy-Bonneil  (Aisne),20 — which  are  three- 

,s  See  p.  no. 

” Lefevre-Pontalis,  pi.  XXIX. 

m Lefevre-Pontalis,  pi.  LI. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


133 


celled, — and  the  one  in  the  lower  story  of  the  chapel  of  the  Bishop’s  palace 
at  Laon  (cir.  1137-1147)  (Fig.  62)  with  five  cells.  The  latter  shows  their 
general  characteristics.  There  are  no  wall  ribs  and  the  round-headed  win- 
dows are  only  partly  raised  above  the  impost  of  the  radiants  while  there 


Fig.  62. — Laon,  Chapel  of  the  Bishop’s  Palace. 


abut  against  the  keystone  of  the  apsidal  arch  (Plate  Il-b).  It  will  be 
noticed  also  that  this  arch  is  greatly  thickened  to  resist  the  pressure  of 
these  ribs,  and  at  Tournai  is  preceded  by  a tunnel-vaulted  bay  to  make 
this  resistance  even  more  secure.21 

But  much  more  important  than  these  smaller  chevet  vaults,  are  those 
of  a number  of  large  churches,  also  belonging  to  the  second  quarter  of  the 
twelfth  century.  Of  these,  Saint  Germer-de-Fly22  (Fig.  63)  has  been 
most  prominently  brought  to  notice  through  Mr.  Moore's  work  on  Gothic 
architecture.  It  is  doubly  of  interest  because  it  possesses  chevet  vaults  of 
two  distinct  stages  in  the  development  of  this  new  form.  Thus  in  the 
original  radiating  chapels  opening  off  the  ambulatory,23  three-part  chevet 

21  At  Laon  the  remaining  bays  of  the  chapel  are  groined  and  if  their  vaults  are  original, 
this  presents  one  of  the  few  examples  of  a church  completely  groined  and  especially  of 
one  with  the  combination  of  groined  vault  and  ribbed  chevet. 

22  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  pi.  1,  opp.  p.  19.  Variously  dated 
1130-1150. 

“Illustrated  in  Moore,  pp.  72  and  73,  Figs.  26,  27. 


134 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


vaults  of  the  type  described  in  the  previous  paragraph  were  employed,  with 
this  advance,  namely  the  introduction  of  stilted,  round-headed  wall  ribs. 
The  vaults  are  still  highly  domed  at  the  crown  and  it  would  seem  very 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  were  completed  before  the  vault  of  the 
great  apse  was  begun. 

This  latter  shows  an  advance  in  construction  beyond  that  hitherto  seen. 


Fig.  63. — Saint  Germer-de-Fly,  Abbey  Church. 

In  the  first  place,  the  entire  window  is  placed  above  the  level  of  the  impost 
of  the  radiants  with  a consequent  raising  of  the  vault  surface  above  the 
windows  and  a great  reduction  in  its  domed-up  character.  The  line  of 
intersection  of  the  vault  cell  with  the  apse  wall,  which  is  marked  by  a 
slightly  pointed,  stilted  wall  rib,  resting  upon  slender  shafts  rising  from  the 
clerestory  string-course,  is  almost  perpendicular  from  the  impost  of  the 
radiants  to  a point  about  at  their  haunch.  Thus  the  lower  portion  of  the 
masonry  panel  is  really  a flat  wall  resting  upon  the  ribs.  The  object  of  the 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


*35 


builders  in  thus  constructing  their  vault  panels  would  seem  to  have  been 
twofold,  first  to  get  a large  space  of  pleasing  shape  for  clerestory  win- 
dows and  secondly  to  aid  in  overcoming  the  thrusts  of  the  radiating  ribs. 
The  first  is  perhaps  the  less  important  of  the  two,  for  the  windows  in  the 
early  chevets  very  rarely  occupy  all  the  space  beneath  the  wall  intersection. 
The  second,  however,  furnishes  a much  better  explanation  of  this  form  of 
panel.  And  this  explanation  would  seem  to  lie,  not  so  much  in  the  fact 
that  the  stilted  wall  rib  concentrated  the  thrust  along  a narrow  strip  of 
exterior  wall  where  it  could  be  met  by  exterior  buttresses24  but  rather  in 
the  fact  that  the  weight  of  such  a fiat  wall,  rising  perpendicularly  above 
the  radiating  ribs,  practically  offset  all  of  their  outward  thrusts  by  its 
downward  pressure  while  the  little  which  remained  was  taken  care  of  by 
the  thick  walls  characteristic  of  church  construction  in  the  Transitional 
period.  Thus  it  is  possible  to  account  for  the  almost  total  lack  of  exterior 
abutment  in  such  apses  as  this  at  Saint  Germer-de-Fly,  where  only  the 
slenderest  of  shafts  are  found  along  the  exterior  wall  serving  far  more 
for  decoration  than  for  abutment.23  That  the  stilting  was  not  done  pri- 
marily to  concentrate  the  thrusts  is  further  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  many 
of  the  later  Gothic  churches  which  were  built  long  after  the  flying-but- 
tress was  perfected  there  is  no  attempt  to  stilt  the  wall  rib,  but  the  masonry 
of  the  vault  is  actually  curved  outward  from  the  very  springing  of  the 
radiants,  which  are  raised  to  the  impost  of  the  window  heads  to  give  the 
vault  this  form.26 

The  highly  stilted  wall  intersection  with  the  consequent  elevation  of  the 
clerestory  window  and  flattening  of  the  lower  part  of  the  vault  cell  con- 
stitutes the  great  structural  advance  in  the  chevet  of  Saint  Germer.  The 
employment  of  the  wall  rib,  however,  introduces  an  important  matter  for 
discussion.  To  be  sure  this  is  not  by  any  means  the  first  example  of  its 
use,  for  formerets  may  be  found  even  in  groined  vaults,  but  it  is  one  of 
the  early  examples  on  a large  scale  and  may  serve  to  introduce  the  question 
as  to  the  part  which  these  ribs  played  in  Gothic  architecture. 

24  See  Moore,  p.  130,  et  seq.,  and  Porter,  II,  p.  80. 

See  also  the  apses  of  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen,  of  Saint  Martin-des-Champs  at  Paris 
and  of  Soissons  cathedral  transept.  Other  churches  were  probably  originally  de- 
signed without  the  flying-buttresses,  among  them  Saint  Remi  at  Reims.  See  Porter, 
II,  p.  209  (from  Lefevre-Pontalis). 

28  This  type  of  vault  is  later  discussed.  See  p.  153. 


i36 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


The  Use  of  Wall  Ribs  in  Gothic  Ribbed  Vaulting 

It  has  generally  been  maintained  that  the  wall  ribs  were  integral  and 
important  members  of  a true  ribbed  vault  and  that  they  actually  aided  in 
the  support  of  the  masonry  panels.  There  are,  however,  a number  of 
reasons  for  believing  that  this  is  not  entirely  so  but  that  these  ribs  were 
comparatively  unimportant  as  far  as  their  relation  to  the  vaults  was  con- 
cerned and  were  of  much  more  importance,  in  the  first  place  as  cover  joints, 
in  the  second  as  window  heads,  and  in  the  third  as  relieving  arches  in  the 
clerestory  wall.  Two  important  facts  lend  strength  to  the  theory  that  the 
wall  rib  was  not  as  a rule  a supporting  member.  The  first  of  these  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  was  quite  frequently  omitted  even  from  vaults  of  the 
true  Gothic  form,  and  the  second,  in  the  fact  that,  when  present,  there  are 
perhaps  as  many  cases  in  which  the  curve  of  the  vault  fails  to  follow  that 
of  the  rib  as  there  are  of  the  reverse  condition.  In  fact,  it  is  a question 
whether  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  vault  panel  actually  rests  upon  or 
even  cuts  into  the  face  of  the  formeret.  Take,  for  example,  a number  of 
chevet  vaults27  and  examine  them  in  this  respect.  At  Saint  Germer  (Fig. 
63)  the  wall  rib  is  largely  a relieving  arch  in  the  clerestory  wall  which  is 
made  much  thinner  beneath  it  ; and  while  the  curve  of  the  chevet  cells  fol- 
lows in  general  that  of  the  arch,  it  does  not  exactly  correspond  with  it.  In 
the  large  chevet  vault  of  Saint  Remi  at  Reims  (Fig.  64),  and  in  many 
other  vaults  not  over  the  apse,  especially  in  the  English  churches  and  those 
in  which  a group  of  clerestory  windows  is  found  in  each  bay,  no  wall  rib 
is  used,  showing  that  such  a rib  was  not  at  all  necessary  as  far  as  the  con- 
struction and  support  of  the  vault  was  concerned.  Moreover,  in  many  of 
the  churches  in  which  a wall  rib  is  used  along  the  exact  line  of  the  vault 
surface,  it  is  too  small  to  act  as  a supporting  member  and  would  seem  to 
be  merely  a cover- joint  to  hide  the  intersection  of  the  vault  surface  with 
the  clerestory  wall.28  Finally  and  most  important  of  all  are  the  cases  in 
which  this  rib  is  used  primarily  as  a window  head.  In  some  of  these,  as 

*'7  The  chevet  vault  is  chosen  for  this  discussion  merely  because  the  photographs  are 
handy  for  reference.  Similar  vaults  coult,  however,  be  found  in  all  the  other  portions 
of  the  church. 

“For  example,  in  Soissons  transept.  It  certain  other  examples,  the  formeret  does  not 
follow  the  vault  curve.  See  Paris,  St.  Martin-des-Champs  (Fig.  65),  Noyon  transept,  etc. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


J37 


for  example  in  the  apse  of  La  Madeleine  at  Vezelay,  and  those  of  the 
cathedrals  of  Soissons  (Lig.  67)  and  Chartres  (Lig.  68),  the  curve  of  the 
vault  corresponds  with  this  window-head  arch,  but  in  many  other  apses 
such  as  those  of  Bourges  cathedral  (Lig.  76),  of  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen 
(Lig.  70),  and  of  the  Sainte  Chapelle  at  Saint  Germer,  the  builders  without 
hesitation  curved  their  vault  surface  away  from  the  line  of  the  window- 


Fig.  64. — Reims,  Saint  Remi. 


head  which  would  otherwise  be  the  natural  wall  rib.29  Although  from  the 
preceding  facts,  it  would  seem  evident  that  the  wall  rib  was  not  an  es- 
sential structural  member  of  the  Gothic  vaulting  system  it  may  have  been 
of  advantage  in  many  instances  for  holding  a temporary  wooden  center- 
ing during  the  construction  of  the  vault  panels. 

Radiating-Ribbed  Chevets  continued 

Returning  again  to  the  radiating-ribbed  chevet,  especially  that  of  Saint 
Germer-de-Lly  (Lig.  63),  it  is  important  to  note  the  one  great  weakness 
which  this  vault  possesses.  It  lies  in  the  position  of  the  radiating  ribs 
which  abut  the  apsidal  arch  at  its  crown,  in  other  words  at  a point  not  at  all 

29  A vault  of  similar  character  may  be  noted  in  the  name  of  Amiens  and  numerous 
other  instances  could  be  cited  outside  of  the  chevet  vaults. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


138 

suited  to  meet  the  pressures  which  are  thus  brought  to  bear  against  it.  A 
rather  heavy  arch  between  the  apse  and  the  remaining  bay  of  the  choir, 
though  no  heavier  than  those  in  the  vaulted  bays  of  the  nave,  aids  in  re- 
sisting the  pressure  but  nevertheless  such  a vault  is  not  strictly  logical  from 
a structural  standpoint.  It  is  not  as  well  buttressed,  for  example,  as  the 
ribbed  half  dome  of  Saint  Georges  at  Boscherville  (Fig.  61),  or  the  tran- 
sept chevet  at  Tournai  (Fig.  53),  in  which  a tunnel  vaulted  bay  precedes 
the  arch  against  whose  crown  the  radiants  are  brought  to  bear. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  this  vault  was  but  little  used  in  subsequent 
Gothic  architecture.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  cite  a few  examples,  among 
them  the  cathedrals  of  Seez  (Orne)  (end  of  the  thirteenth  century),  Cam- 
brai  (Nord)  (cir.  1250),  and  Dinan  (Cotes-du-Nord)  (end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century),  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Sauveur  at  Bruges  (Belgium) 
(probably  thirteenth  century),  and  the  abbey  church  of  Moissac  (Tarn) 
(probably  fourteenth  century).  There  is  also  a peculiar  form  in  which  the 
ribs  are  narrowed  toward  the  crown,  in  Santa  Maria  sopra  Minerva  at 
Rome  (after  1285).  Two  other  slight  variants  of  the  type,  one  in  the 
church  of  Saint  Pierre-le-Guillard  at  Bourges  and  the  other  in  the  cathe- 
dral of  Moulins  are  later  discussed. 

Broken-Ribbed  Chevets 

After  that  of  Saint  Germer-de-Fly,  perhaps  the  next  important  chevet 
is  that  of  Saint  Martin-des-Champs  at  Paris  (Fig.  65),  which  dates  from 
about  1140-1150  and  may  possibly  be  the  earliest  of  what  will  be  termed 
broken-ribbed  chevets.  On  the  exterior,  this  apse  closely  resembles  Saint 
Germer  with  no  flying-buttresses  and  only  very  light  exterior  buttress- 
shafts.  In  the  interior,  however,  there  is  a marked  difference  between  the 
two,  for  the  apse  of  Saint  Martin-des-Champs  is  so  constructed  as  to  in- 
clude not  merely  the  bays  actually  on  the  curve,  but  one  rectangular  bay  of 
the  choir  as  well.  The  builders  thus  set  themselves  the  problem  of  con- 
structing a chevet  vault  with  seven  cells,  over  a space  greater  than  a semi- 
circle. If  they  had  made  all  the  radiants  of  such  a vault  meet  at  the  crown 
of  the  transverse  arch,  there  would  have  been  a great  disparity  in  the  length 
of  the  ribs  and  a very  awkward  shape  to  the  separate  vault  cells.  To  avoid 
this,  and  to  do  away  with  the  pressure  of  the  radiants  at  the  crown  of 
the  apsidal  arch,  the  builders  moved  the  keystone  of  the  radiating  ribs 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


139 


back  from  this  crown  to  a point  where  all  of  them  become  nearly  equal  in 
length.  And  since  the  bay  with  parallel  sides  was  of  practically  the  same 
size  as  four30  of  those  making  up  the  apse  proper,  the  keystone  fell  very 
nearly  on  the  transverse  line  between  the  two  piers  marking  the  eastern  end 


Fig.  65. — Paris,  Saint  Martin-des-Champs. 


of  this  bay  (Plate  II-c).  In  none  of  the  chevets  of  this  type  did  it  fall 
directly  at  the  center  of  such  a line,  however,  and  it  is  this  fact  that  dif- 
ferentiates the  chevet  vaults  of  broken-ribbed  character  from  the  slightly 
later  and  more  developed  buttressing-ribbed  type.  A vault  like  that  at 
Saint  Martin-des-Champs,  marks  an  advance  over  that  at  Saint  Germer 
in  that  the  two  western  ribs  furnish  admirable  abutment  for  the  keystone 
of  the  vault,  and  the  added  choir  bay  gives  a more  spacious  appearance  to 
this  portion  of  the  church. 

There  is  another  example  of  this  broken-ribbed  chevet  in  Paris,  in  the 
church  of  Saint  Germain-des-Pres  (cir.  1163),  while  still  others  may  be 

“"The  eastern  bay  in  this  particular  church  was  widened  to  give  a broad  opening  into 
the  Lady  chapel. 


140 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


seen  in  Saint  Ouiriace  at  Provins  (cir.  1160)  (Fig.  31)  and  in  La  Made- 
leine at  Vezelay  (cir.  1140-1180)  (Fig.  66).  The  latter  is  of  especial 
interest  because  it  shows  some  peculiar  makeshifts  in  the  matter  of  con- 
struction. Here  the  choir  would  seem  to  have  been  originally  designed  to 


Fig.  66. — Vezelay,  La  Madeleine. 


consist  of  two  rectangular  bays  with  four-part  vaults  and  an  apse  of  five 
sides  probably  with  a chevet  like  that  at  Saint  GermerC1  But  by  the  time 
the  western  bay  of  the  choir  had  been  built  up  to  the  clerestory,  it  would 
seem  as  if  a new  idea  of  a seven-part  chevet  had  come  in,  perhaps  from 
Paris,  and  the  next  bay  was  subdivided  so  as  to  give  seven  equal  sides 
to  the  new  vault.  Then  to  make  all  the  bays  of  the  same  scale,  the  west 
bay  was  also  subdivided,  but  this  necessarily  at  the  clerestory  level,  and 
covered  with  a six-part  vault.  This  left  nine  bays  for  the  chevet  and  as 
only  seven  were  to  be  actually  included  beneath  the  radiants,  a narrow 
rectangular  four-part  vault  was  used  over  that  toward  the  choir.  There 

Tt  may  be  noted  that  La  Madeleine  also  resembles  St.  Germer  in  having  a groined 
triforium. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


141 

now  remained  an  apse  in  all  respects  like  those  of  Saint  Martin-des-Champs 
and  of  Saint  Germain-des-Pres  and  it  was  similarly  vaulted  with  a broken- 
ribbed  vault  whose  keystone  does  not  lie  quite  upon  the  transverse  line 
between  the  first  two  piers  of  the  apse  proper.  The  chevet  built  upon  these 
radiants  differs,  however,  from  those  in  Paris  and  at  Saint  Germer  in 
having  a decidedly  domed  up  character.  In  other  words,  the  windows  do 
not  rise  more  than  half  the  distance  from  the  impost  of  the  radiants  to 
their  keystone. 3- 

Buttressing-Ribbed  Chevets 

This  type  of  chevet  as  developed  at  Paris  and  Vezelay  played  a large 
part  in  subsequent  architecture,  for  out  of  it  would  seem  to  have  sprung 
what  will  be  for  convenience  termed  the  buttressing-ribbed  chevet.  Among 
the  more  important  early  chevets  of  this  type  are  those  over  the  apses  of 
Noyon33  transepts,  of  Saint  Remi  at  Reims  (Fig.  64),  of  Saint  Leu  d’Esse- 
rent  (Oise),  and  of  the  cathedrals  of  Sens,  Canterbury,  Noyon,  and  others, 
all  probably  completed  before  1180.  Although  differing  in  a number  of 
details,  these  apses  have  certain  features  in  common.  They  all  include 
beneath  the  chevet  the  preceding  bay  of  the  church,  and  all  have  the  same 
arrangement  of  ribs  which  are  so  placed  that  the  two  springing  from  the 
piers  next  beyond  the  apsidal  arch  on  either  side  form  a transverse  arch 
against  whose  crown  all  the  others  abut  (Plate  Il-d).  The  object  of  this 
arrangement  evidently  lay  in  the  desire  of  the  builders  to  construct  a dis- 
tinct transverse  arch  between  the  curve  of  the  apse  and  the  rectangular 
bay  included  in  the  chevet  and  at  the  same  time  to  employ  the  two  ribs 
beyond  those  forming  the  arch,  as  buttresses,  to  offset  the  thrust  of  the 
remaining  radiants.  Thus  when  the  rectangular  bay  was  larger  than  those 
around  the  curve,  as  for  example  in  the  choir  of  Soissons  cathedral  (Fig. 
67),  the  buttressing  ribs  were  longer  than  the  remainder  of  those  forming 
the  vault.  This  made  the  bay  containing  these  two  ribs  precisely  like  one- 
half  of  a six-part  vault,  and  as  this  method  of  vaulting  was  commonly 
used  in  the  nave  and  choir  of  these  churches  this  chevet  was  a very 

“Vaults  with  just  such  doming  were  to  be  used  side  by  side  with  those  with  higher 
window  cells,  as  is  later  shown. 

“Unfortunately  the  vaults  of  Sens  and  Noyon  have  been  rebuilt  though  apparently 
in  the  original  manner,  while  those  of  Senlis,  which  would  have  been  of  much  value,  have 
been  reconstructed  in  a later  style. 


142 


MEDIAEVAL  CHLTRCH  VAULTING 


logical  continuation  of  such  a vault.  But  the  builders  do  not  seem  to  have 
realized  immediately  the  aesthetic  advantage  in  so  planning  their  churches 
that  such  chevet  vaults  should  come  next  to  a six-part  vault.  At  Sens 
(Fig.  28),  however,  the  perfected  use  of  this  new  chevet  is  shown  for  it 
is  placed  directly  beyond  a six-part  bay  and  its  two  buttressing  ribs  are  the 
counterparts  of  the  two  diagonals  of  the  sexpartite  vault.  Once  the  ad- 


Fig.  67. — Soissons,  Cathedral. 


vantage  of  such  an  arrangement  was  grasped,  the  churches  were  in  many 
cases  planned  to  provide  for  an  even  number  of  six-part  bays  in  the  choir 
followed  by  a chevet  which  carries  the  same  system  into  the  apse  of  the 
church.  Thus  in  the  cathedrals  of  Paris  and  Bourges,  and  probably  origi- 
nally in  that  of  Soissons,  as  well  as  in  other  churches  with  six-part  vaulting, 
this  chevet  became  the  standard  form  of  eastern  termination  and  the  bay 
preceding  the  apse  was  made  sexpartite  so  that  the  completed  church  would 
be  uniform  throughout.34  Moreover  the  apsidal  bays  of  the  later  chevets, 

* Examples  include:  Bologna,  San  Francesco;  Auxerre  Cath.  (planned  for  six-part 
type  of  vaults),  etc. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


M3 


as  for  example  that  at  Soissons  (Fig.  67)  were  frequently  so  planned  that 
the  radiants  from  the  piers  next  beyond  the  ribs  forming  the  transverse 
arch  containing  the  keystone,  were  exact  extensions  of  the  buttressing 
ribs.  In  other  words,  except  for  the  subdivision  of  the  eastern  bay  into 
three  window  cells,  the  chevet  corresponded  to  a true  six-part  vault  in- 
scribed in  the  space  formed  by  the  last  bay  of  the  choir  and  the  polyg- 
onal-sided apse. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  buttressing-ribbed  chevet  was  primar- 
ily suited  to  churches  with  six-part  vaulting,  it  was  by  no  means  confined  to 
these  for  it  is  found  in  a large  number  which  were  from  the  beginning 
planned  for  four-part  vaults.  Among  these  is  the  cathedral  of  Rouen,  in 
which  the  chevet  is  of  distinctly  six-part  type  with  a full-sized  choir  bay 
included  beneath  the  vault,35  and  the  cathedral  of  Reims  in  which  all  the 
bays  of  the  chevet  are  of  practically  the  same  size,  as  in  the  early  churches 
which  gave  rise  to  this  form  of  apse  vault.  Reims  is  thus  an  example  of 
the  perseverance  of  the  design  of  a seven-sided  chevet  including  one  bay 
with  parallel  walls  and  yet  of  the  same  size  as  those  forming  the  curve.36 

But  while  pleasing  in  appearance  when  used  in  combination  with  six- 
part  choir  vaults,  the  chevet  with  buttressing  ribs  was  not  so  satisfactory  in 
churches  with  four-part  cross-ribbed  vaulting  of  rectangular  plan.  A ref- 
erence to  the  vault  of  Soissons  cathedral  (Fig.  67) 37  will  illustrate  the 
faults  of  such  a combination.  These  lie  largely  in  the  three-part  vaulted 
bay.  In  the  first  place,  though  its  window- cells  are  practically  the  same 
width  as  those  in  the  remainder  of  the  choir,  their  crown  lines  run  out  at 
an  awkward  angle,38  instead  of  being  practically  perpendicular  to  the  outer 
walls  as  in  the  remaining  bays  of  the  apse  and  all  those  of  four-part  type. 
Secondly,  the  great,  triangular,  transverse  severy  is  much  larger  than  any 
of  the  others  in  the  church  and  is  thus  unpleasing  when  contrasted  with 
them,  besides  being  more  difficult  to  construct  because  of  its  larger  size. 
It  is  not  surprising  to  find,  therefore,  that  a fourth  form  of  chevet  was 
developed  and  used  extensively  in  churches  with  four-part  vaulting.  This 

30  Other  examples  not  mentioned  include  Albi  (Tarn)  cath.;  Troyes  (Aube)  cath.; 
Semur-en-Auxois  (Cote-d’or),  Notre  Dame. 

30  It  is  possible  that  it  owes  this  arrangement  to  the  church  of  Saint  Remi  (Fig.  64). 

37  Although  not  originally  planned  for  four-part  vaults  in  the  choir,  its  present  arrange- 
ment illustrates  the  combination  referred  to. 

68  This  is  not  a noticeable  fault  with  sexpartite  choir  vaulting  since  the  crowns  of  all 
the  window  cells  form  similar  angles. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


144 

chevet,  which  will  be  termed  diagxmal-ribbed,  is  perhaps  the  most  important 
distinct  type  developed  in  Gothic  architecture. 

r 

Diagonal-Ribbed  Chevets 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  there  were  a number  of  early  apses  cov- 
ered with  an  elementary  kind  of  chevet  which  was  formed  by  the  use  of 
two  diagonal  ribs  over  the  semicircle  of  the  apse  in  exactly  the  same  man- 
ner as  similar  ribs  were  used  in  rectangular  four-part  vaulting.  Such  a 
vault  as  this  may  have  been  the  prototype  of  the  slightly  more  developed 
form  to  be  seen  in  the  radiating  chapels  of  the  cathedral  of  Noyon  (before 
1167)39  and  in  the  chapel  at  the  end  of  one  aisle  of  Notre  Dame  at  Etampes 


Fig.  68. — -Chartres,  Cathedral. 


(Seine-et-Oise)  (cir.  1160).  This  latter  has  one  extra  rib  added  in  what 
would  have  been  the  eastern  bay  of  such  a four-part  apse  vault  subdividing 
it  into  two  window  cells  and  thus  producing  a four-celled  chevet40  (Plate 
Il-e).  It  is  exactly  this  principle,  applied  on  a larger  scale  and  with  a fur- 
ther subdivision  of  this  outer  bay,  which  may  be  seen  in  such  chevets  as 
those  of  Chartres  cathedral  (Fig.  68)  and  Saint  Etienne  at  Caen  (first  quar- 

” Porter,  II,  p.  83,  Fig.  176. 

4,1  1 11  referring  to  chevet  vaults,  the  terms  three-celled,  four-celled,  etc.,  refer  to  the 
number  of  window  panels  or  severies,  while  the  terms  four-part,  five-part,  etc.,  refer  to 
the  lotal  number  of  severies  in  the  vault,  generally  one  more  than  the  number  of  window 
cells. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING  145 

ter  of  thirteenth  century)  (Fig.  7°)-41  0^  fiiese>  the  one  M Chartres  has  the 
more  primitive  character,  for  all  of  its  seven  bays  are  on  the  curve  of 
a semicircle  and  thus  none  of  the  choir  proper  is  included  beneath  the 
chevet  (Plate  Il-f).  As  a result  of  this  increased  number  of  bays,  the  in- 
tersection of  the  two  diagonal  ribs  which  form  the  first  two  radiants  on 
each  side,  lies  at  a point  comparatively  near  the  keystone  of  the  apsidal 
arch.  This  gives  a certain  uniformity  to  the  size  and  character  of  the 
bays,  but  the  vault  is  not  yet  perfect,  for  the  ribs  are  still  noticeably  differ- 
ent in  length,  and  more  important  than  this  the  crowns  of  the  window  cells 
are  at  an  awkward  angle  with  the  exterior  wall.  These  faults  are,  however, 
much  less  marked  in  Saint  Etienne,  where  the  apse  is  greater  than  a semi- 
circle— though  even  this  chevet  is  not  of  the  perfected  diagonal-ribbed 
type,  since  it  has  no  wall  ribs  and,  moreover,  is  used  over  an  apse  of  semi- 
circular instead  of  polygonal  plan  like  those  of  the  developed  Gothic  period. 
An  example  of  the  perfected  vault  may  be  seen,  however,  above  the  apse 
of  Amiens  cathedral  (Fig.  69).  Here  there  are  but  five  bays  of  the  chevet 
along  the  curve  of  the  apse  proper,  the  remaining  two  being  continuations  of 
the  choir  walls  (Plate  H-g).  The  diagonal  ribs  which  determine  the  posi- 
tion of  the  keystone  are  therefore  precisely  such  ribs  as  those  in  the  re- 
mainder of  the  chevet  except  that  the  bay  in  which  they  lie  is  of  smaller 
size  than  those  preceding  it  and  thus  forms  a gradual  transition  to  the 
still  smaller  bays  comprising  the  apse  proper.  As  a result  of  this  arrange- 
ment of  ribs  at  Amiens,  the  keystone  of  the  vault  is  so  placed  that  it  not 
only  renders  all  the  radiants  of  practically  equal  length  but  also  makes  the 
crown  lines  of  each  window  cell  so  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  wall  as  to 
give  a most  symmetrical  effect  to  the  entire  vault.  Such  a chevet  consti- 
tutes the  finest  method  of  apse  vaulting  developed  in  Gothic  architecture 
and  in  fact  may  well  be  considered  the  most  perfect  type  conceivable,  at 
least  from  the  point  of  view  of  appearance.  It  loses  a little  in  structural 
character  through  the  fact  that  the  first  ribs  do  not  abut  the  four  eastern 
radiants  at  as  firm  an  angle  as  in  the  previous  chevet  type,42  but  the 
advantage  gained  in  the  more  symmetrical  character  of  the  vaulting  severies 
makes  up  in  large  degree  for  this  possible  fault. 

41  See  also  the  five-part  chevet  in  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Louis  at  Blois  (Loire-et-Cher) 
which  is,  however,  of  much  later  date. 

0 This  may  explain  the  fact  that  the  buttressing  rib  type  of  chevet  persisted  side  by  side 
with  this  fourth  form. 


146 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Chevets  with  Added  Ribs 

Nevertheless  it  may  have  been  a feeling  on  the  part  of  the  builders 
that  there  was  a lack  of  abutment  to  the  west  of  the  keystone  which  led  to 
the  introduction  of  one  or  more  short  ribs  at  this  point  in  a number  of 


Fig.  69. — Amiens,  Cathedral. 


chevets  of  various  dates  throughout  the  Gothic  era.  Thus  in  the  apse  of 
Saint  Etienne  at  Caen  (Fig.  70), 43  of  Saint  Trophime  at  Arles,  and  of  the 
cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Mantes,  a single  rib  runs  out  from  the 
keystone  of  the  chevet  to  that  of  the  apsidal  arch.  (Plate  Il-h).  Nor  was 
this  ril)  a continuation  of  a ridge  rib  in  the  choir,  for  in  the  instances  just 
cited  no  such  rib  was  employed.  One  is  to  be  seen  in  a number  of  churches, 
among  them  such  widely  separated  examples  as  San  Saturnino  at  Pamp- 

43  In  St.  fitienne  this  rib  would  seem  to  be  an  addition  to  the  original  chevet. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


'47 


Iona,44  Westminster  Abbey,45  and  Saint  Alpin  at  Chalons-sur-Marne,41’ 
All  of  these  churches  have  diagonal-ribbed  chevets,  but  there  are  instances 
of  a short  rib  running  to  the  apsidal  arch  even  where  the  vault  is  of  the 
buttressing  ribbed  type,  as  for  example  in  the  cathedral  of  Barcelona,4' 
wherfe  it  would  seem  to  have  been  used  to  subdivide  the  great  triangular 


Fig.  70. — Caen,  Saint  Liienne. 


transverse  cell  of  the  vault  even  more  than  to  provide  further  apparent 
abutment  for  the  other  radiants  (Plate  Il-i).  Even  in  chevets  of  the  first 
type  with  ribs  radiating  from  the  keystone  of  the  apsidal  arch,  a rib  is 
occasionally  added  in  the  bay  preceding  this  vault,  as  for  example  in  Saint 
Pierre-le-Guillard  at  Bourges  (fifteenth  century  vaulting),  where  this  short 
rib  runs  out  only  to  the  crown  of  the  six-part  vault  with  which  the  last 
bay  of  the  choir  is  covered  (Plate  II- j ) . Occasionally,  too,  a church  like 
the  cathedral  of  Moulins  (Allier)  (1468-1508),  with  a ridge  rib  the  length 
of  the  choir,  is  terminated  by  a chevet  with  radiating  ribs  which  thus  re- 
ceive apparent  abutment  at  their  keystone  (Plate  Il-k). 

44  Street,  pi.  XXV.  op.  p.  408. 

45  Bond,  p.  63. 

This  church  has  a rather  exceptional  chevet  in  that  it  is  considerably  more  than  a 
semicircle  in  plan. 

17  Plan  in  Street,  pi.  XVT,  opp.  p.  306. 


148 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


A similar  purpose  of  providing  apparent  abutment  would  seem  to  ac- 
count for  the  unusual  form  of  the  chevets  of  Bayeux  cathedral  (thirteenth 
century),  and  Sant’  Antonio  at  Padua  (after  123 2)  in  which  all  the 
radiants  which  ordinarily  stop  at  the  keystone  are  carried  through  against 
the  face  of  the  apsidal  arch.  At  Bayeux  there  are  two  such  ribs  (Plate 
II-1)4S  and  at  Padua,  three  (Plate  Il-m).  The  latter  is  also  exceptionally 
interesting  in  the  form  of  its  chevet  which  is  really  a combination  of  the 
diagonal  and  the  buttressing  ribbed  type. 

Although  there  are  occasional  instances  like  the  one  at  Barcelona,  in 
which  the  transverse  severy  of  a buttressing  ribbed  chevet  is  subdivided 
only  by  a ridge  rib,  it  is  far  more  common  to  find  a more  extensive  sub- 
division- of  this  bay  when  such  subdivision  was  undertaken  at  all.  More- 
over, it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  many  of  the  elaborated  chevet  vaults' — 
for  it  may  be  noted  here  that  the  apse  vault  was  elaborated  just  as  were 
those  in  the  remainder  of  the  church  edifice — are  fundamentally  based 
upon  the  simple  chevet  with  buttressing  ribs. 

Of  these  vaults  with  added  ribs,  perhaps  the  simplest  are  those  in 
which  the  western  bay  is  subdivided  by  the  introduction  of  a ridge  rib 
running  about  half  way  to  the  crown  of  the  apsidal  arch  and  there  met 
by  two  tiercerons  rising  from  the  imposts  of  this  same  arch  (Plate  Il-n). 
A good  example  appears  in  the  cathedral  of  Bayonne  (Basses-Pyrenees) 
(after  1213),  and  another  in  that  of  Saint  Quentin  (Aisne)  (commenced 
1257),  while  the  same  subdivision  of  this  severy  in  combination  with  other 
subdivided  cells  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Marien-kirche  at  Stargarde  (Germany) 
(fourteenth  century)  (Plate  IV-d). 

A second  and  unusual  division  of  this  severy  appears  in  the  cathedral 
of  Saint  Jean  at  Perpignan  ( Pyrenees-Orientales)  ( 1324-1 509)  ,49  where 
the  customary  three-part  bay  containing  the  buttressing  ribs  also  contains 
two  diagonals  precisely  like  those  in  a four-part  vault  (Plate  II-o).  A 
similar  arrangement,  with  the  addition  of  a ridge  rib  (Plate  II-p),  may  be 
seen  in  the  church  of  Saint  Jean  at  Ambert  (Puy-de-Dome)  (fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  centuries).  Such  subdivisions  as  these  last  two  quite  evi- 
dently had  for  their  object  not  merely  a reduction  in  the  size  of  the  spaces 

“The  double  apse  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Seminaire  at  Bayeux  (thirteenth  century) 
(Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  II,  pi.  44)  has  two  chevets  of  similar  character. 

0 Plan  in  Caumont,  p.  590. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


149 


to  be  vaulted  but  also  an  effort  to  retain  the  buttressing-ribbed  type  of 
chevet  and  still  obtain  a window  cell  which  would  not  have  the  warped 
surface  characteristic  of  this  form. 

A still  more  elaborate  subdivision  of  the  rectangular  vaulting  bay  ap- 
pears in  the  chevet  of  Notre  Dame-de-1  Epine  near  Chalons-sur-Marne 
(1419-14^9)  (Fig.  71),  where  this  bay  contains  no  diagonals  at  all  but  is 


Fig.  71. — Chalons-sur-Marne  (near),  Notre  Dame-de-lTpine. 

divided  by  a series  of  tiercerons  and  short  ridge  ribs  in  a manner  best 
understood  from  the  plan  (Plate  Il-q).  But  it  is  the  subdivision  of  the 
window  cells  of  the  apse  proper  which  is  of  especial  interest  at  l’Epine, 
for  the  method  here  employed  was  very  widely  extended  in  the  later  Gothic 
period.  It  consists  in  the  introduction  into  each  of  these  cells  of  a short 
ridge  rib  running  from  the  central  keystone  to  a point  about  half  way  to 
the  window  crowns  where  it  is  met  by  two  tiercerons  which  rise  from  the 
impost  of  the  principal  ribs  of  the  chevet  on  either  side  of  the  window. 
The  apparent  object  of  the  system  is  to  so  subdivide  the  vault  surface  as 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


15° 

to  break  up  its  compound  or  ploughshare  curves  and  substitute  smaller 
panels  whose  surfaces  are  simpler  to  construct  exactly  as  in  the  similar 
nave  vaults  previously  described.  This  purpose  does  not  show  to  advant- 
age at  l'Epine,  where  the  awkward  adjustment  between  the  vault  panels 
and  the  window  heads  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  apse  was  originally 
designed  for  a simple  form  of  chevet  with  no  added  ribs.  Better  examples 
could  be  cited,  among  them  Saint  Severin  at  Paris.  Such  an  arrangement 
of  window  cells  as  that  in  these  vaults  practically  converts  the  chevet  into 
a ribbed  half  dome  pierced  with  lunettes  which  do  not  rise  to  its  crown. 
This  may  clearly  be  seen  from  a study  of  the  apse  of  Saint  Jacques  at 
Antwerp  (probably  sixteenth  century),  where  the  vault  is  unusual  in  the 
omission  of  all  the  true  radiating  ribs  (Plate  Il-r).  As  a matter  of  fact 
such  ribs  were  no  longer  of  value  since  they  did  not  mark  the  intersection 
of  two  vault  panels  but  merely  lay  along  a surface  which  is  almost  pre- 
cisely like  a section  of  a half  dome.  The  tiercerons  are  still  important  since 
they  mark  the  intersection  of  the  window  lunettes  and  carry  the  weight  of 
the  vault  down  to  the  piers.  They  are  therefore  retained.  Thus,  while  the 
absence  of  radiants  in  Saint  Jacques  might  seem  to  make  this  vault  struc- 
turally less  correct  than  that  of  l’Epine  in  reality  such  is  not  the  case. 

Once  it  became  the  custom  to  introduce  extra  ribs  into  the  chevet,  this 
portion  of  the  church  underwent  the  same  treatment  as  the  vault  of  the 
nave  or  choir.  Thus  in  England,  to  cite  only  extreme  cases  of  elaboration, 
the  later  Gothic  produced  such  vaults  as  those  of  Tewkesbury  Abbey  (be- 
tween 1325  and  1350), 50  in  France,  such  pendant  types  as  that  of  Saint 
Pierre  at  Caen  (probably  early  sixteenth  century),  and  in  Germany  such 
a choir  and  apse  as  that  of  Freiburg  cathedral  (late  fifteenth  century) 
(Fig.  72).01  The  last  named  is  especially  interesting  as  showing  the 
low  point  reached  in  rib  vaulting  for  its  ribs  have  almost  no  function 
as  supporting  members,  some  of  them  being  actually  free  from  the  vault 
panels  and  are  merely  used  to  form  a decorative  pattern  upon  a vault  which 
would  stand  equally  well  were  they  entirely  removed.  Such  chevets  are, 
in  many  cases,  clever  examples  of  stone  cutting  and  decorative  design  but 
they  are  lacking  in  fundamental  structural  character. 

m See  the  illustration  in  Bond,  p.  165. 

r"  See  also  Pirna,  Hauptkirche  (1502-1546),  Hartung,  I,  pi.  57. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


The  Number  of  Chevet  Cells 

Thus  far  the  discussion  of  chevets  has  been  distinctly  from  a structural 
point  of  view,  but  there  remain  certain  other  differences  between  these 
vaults  which  are  worthy  of  remark.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  matter 
of  the  number  of  cells  comprised  in  the  chevet.  The  standard  during  the 


Fig.  72. — Freiburg,  Cathedral. 


best  Gothic  period  was  seven,  though  five  was  a frequent  number  and 
quite  often  nine  are  found  (Plate  II-s),  as  for  example,  in  the  apse  of  San 
Francesco  at  Bologna,  Saint  Martin  at  Ypres,  Belgium,  and  that  of  Beziers 
(Herault),  cathedral  (1215-1300).52  In  the  smaller  churches  and  in  the 
radiating  chapels  there  are  frequently  three.  Moreover,  when  the  apse  has 
a central  pier,53  there  are  an  even  number  of  bays  and  thus  four  and  six- 
celled  chevets  are  employed.  That  in  Saint  Pierre  at  Caen,  for  example, 

6' See  also  Le  Mans,  Notre  Dame-de-la-Couture  ; Padua,  Sant’  Antonio. 

63  And  sometimes  in  churches  where  this  arrangement  is  not  found. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


T52 

has  four  bays  all  on  the  curve,  and  that  in  Notre  Dame  at  Caudebec-en- 
Caux  (Seine-Inferieure)  (fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries)  (Plate  Il-t) 
has  only  two  bays  thus  placed,  a fact  which  gives  an  angular  character  to 
the  apse  which  is  far  from  pleasing.54  As  for  the  chevets  with  six  cells, 
they  are  of  very  infrequent  occurrence,  though  one  is  to  be  seen  in  Saint 
Pierre  at  Auxerre  (Plate  II-u).  A chevet  with  the  unusual  number  of 
eleven  cells  is  to  be  seen  in  the  church  of  La  Chapelle-sur-Crecy  (thirteenth 
century).53  In  construction,  this  chevet  is  similar  to  one  bay  of  such  an 
eight-part  vault  as  that  at  Provins,  Saint  Quiriace56  with  its  easternmost 
cell  divided  into  five  parts. 

The  Use  of  A Central  Pier  in  the  Apse 

An  interesting  question  arises  in  this  connection  as  to  why  the  central 
pier  was  employed  in  the  mediaeval  church.  It  is  not  common,  yet  it 
occurs  frequently  enough  and  over  a sufficient  space  of  time  to  prove  that 
it  did  not  lack  a certain  amount  of  popularity.  Thus  an  apse  with  such  a 
pier  is  to  be  seen  in  the  early  Romanesque  church  of  Vignory  (Haute- 
Marne)  (consecrated  cir.  1050-1052),  where  it  is  covered  by  a half  dome, 
and  again  at  Morienval  (Oise)  (Fig.  77),  where  there  are  ribs  beneath  a 
similar  vault.57  Throughout  the  Gothic  period,  this  plan  of  apse  sur- 
mounted by  a chevet  occurs  in  an  even  larger  number  of  examples  and  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  period  becomes  quite  popular.  Leaving  out  of 
consideration  the  origin  of  the  employment  of  a central  eastern  pier,  which 
would  seem  most  difficult  to  ascertain,  it  is  at  least  interesting  to  note  the 
effect  which  a chevet  with  a central  rib  presents  when  compared  with  the 
more  usual  type.  If,  for  example,  the  apse  of  Saint  Pierre  at  Auxerre  be 
compared  with  that  of  the  cathedral  of  Reims,  the  advantage  and  disad- 
vantage of  the  two  methods  from  the  point  of  view  of  appearance  may  be 
seen.  The  most  displeasing  feature  of  the  apse  of  Reims  lies  in  the  fact  that 
its  central  arch  and  window,  being  seen  in  their  full  width,  seem  dispropor- 
tionately wide  in  comparison  with  those  on  either  side,  while  at  Auxerre 
there  is  no  window  shown  in  its  full  width  with  the  result  that  the  transi- 
tion is  apparently  more  gradual  from  the  ends  to  the  center  of  the  apse. 

M See  also  Neubourg  (Eure).  Plan  in  Enlart,  I,  Fig.  317. 

Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  I,  pi.  46. 

r'°See  Fig.  31. 

" The  vault  has  been  recently  reconstructed  along  original  lines. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


153 


On  the  other  hand,  the  apse  of  Reims  permits  the  addition  of  a lady  chapel 
with  an  arch  on  the  major  axis  of  the  church.08  Altogether  it  is  largely 
a question  of  personal  preference  which  would  seem  to  have  guided  the 
builders,  combined,  perhaps,  with  some  considerations  based  upon  the  size 
of  the  apsidal  curve  and  as  to  how  many  divisions  would  give  the  most 
pleasing  form  to  the  apsidal  arches.  As  far  as  the  actual  construction  of 
the  chevet  is  concerned,  the  plan  with  a central  pier  made  no  essential 
difference,  except  possibly  in  the  vaulting  of  the  ambulatory  which  is  dis- 
cussed in  the  next  chapter. 

Impost  Levels  of  Chevet  Vault  Ribs 

Another  interesting,  though  minor  feature  of  chevet  vaulting,  lies  in 
the  form  of  the  masonry  panels  and  the  position  of  the  imposts  of  the 
radiating  ribs.  The  position  of  the  latter  varies  considerably,  though  it 
corresponds  in  general  with  the  impost  level  of  the  transverse  arches  in  the 
nave  or  choir  of  the  church.  In  the  best  period  this  was  generally  some- 
what above  the  sill  line  of  the  clerestory  windows,  but  in  some  of  the  early 
churches  like  Saint  Germer  (Fig.  63),  Saint  Quiriace  at  Provins  (Fig. 
31),  and  the  cathedral  of  Bourges  (Fig.  76),  it  is  below  this  line,  while 
in  a number  of  later  churches,  among  them  Saint  Urbain  at  Troyes  (Aube) 
(1262-1329)  (Fig.  73),  it  is  as  high  as  that  of  the  arches  forming  the 
window  heads.  This  last  chevet  is  also  important  as  showing  a tendency 
to  do  away  with  the  flat  wall  forming  the  lower  portion  of  each  panel  and 
starting  the  outward  curve  of  the  masonry  directly  from  the  extrados  of 
the  ribs.  Although  this  detracts  somewhat  from  the  beauty  of  the  vault 
by  making  the  curve  of  its  cells  too  abrupt,  it  does  prevent  large  portions 
of  the  windows  from  being  concealed  and  therefore  gives  a more  uniform 
effect  to  the  clerestory.59  Such  an  arrangement  of  the  window  cells  is 
to  be  found  even  earlier  in  the  chevet  of  Bayeux  cathedral  (early  thirteenth 
century),  where  the  rib  rises  from  the  clerestory  string-course  but  is  kept 
close  against  the  wall  to  the  impost  of  the  window  arches  so  that  the  effect 
produced  is  much  like  that  at  Saint  Urbain. 

58  A feature  which  certainly  enhances  the  present  appearance  of  the  cathedral,  though 
it  is  quite  possible  that  the  builders  originally  intended  to  shut  off  this  vista  by  a high 
reredos  behind  the  altar. 

™ Compare  for  example  the  chevet  of  Reims  with  that  of  Saint  Urbain. 


154 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCEI  VAULTING 


The  Shape  of  the  Chevet  Cells 

Another  feature  of  chevet  vaulting  which  varies  greatly  throughout  its 
history,  is  the  comparative  height  of  the  crown  of  the  wall  rib,  or  line  of 
intersection,  and  that  of  the  main  keystone  in  other  words,  of  the  doming 
up  of  the  vault  panels.  In  this,  there  is  a very  wide  divergence  all  through 


Fig.  73. — Troyes,  Saint  Urbain. 


the  Transitional  and  Gothic  periods.  Thus  among  the  early  chevets  it 
will  be  noted  that  in  some  the  doming  is  slight  though  noticeable,  as  at 
Saint  Germer  (Fig.  63),  in  others  it  is  very  pronounced,  as  at  Vezelay 
(Fig.  66),  while  in  others  the  crown  of  the  cells  actually  curves  downward 
toward  the  central  keystone.  This  is  an  exceptional  type,  of  which  there 
is  an  example  in  Saint  Remi  at  Reims  (Fig.  64).  Naturally  enough,  the 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 55 

vault  which  is  most  highly  domed  up  exerts  the  least  outward  thrust  and 
is  thus  most  easily  supported.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  this 
form  a favorite  where  large  windows  were  not  required  in  the  apse  or 
where  there  was  no  ambulatory  or  but  a low  one.  This  may  perhaps  ex- 
plain its  use  in  the  south  of  France  in  the  cathedral  of  Beziers  (Herault), 
as  well  as  its  popularity  throughout  Italy,  where  it  may  be  seen  on  an  ex- 
ceptionally large  scale  in  the  cathedral  of  Milan.  Certain  of  these  domed 


Fig.  74. — Angers,  Cathedral. 


up  chevets  may  also  be  attributed  to  the  type  of  nave  vault  developed  in  the 
locality  in  which  they  are  found,  as,  for  example,  the  chevet  of  Angers 
cathedral  (Fig.  74),  which  is  very  highly  domed,  with  the  small  torus 
ribs  of  the  region  forming  the  radiants  beneath  it.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
such  a chevet  as  this  differs  from  a ribbed-lobed-dome  only  in  having  its 
masonry  courses  running  at  right  angles  to  the  supporting  walls.  Its  pres- 
sures are  almost  all  downward  with  but  little  outward  thrust  though  the 
arrangement  of  the  masonry  courses  and  the  shape  of  the  vault  cells  serves 


156 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


to  concentrate  both  thrusts  and  pressures  upon  the  ribs  and  piers  instead 
of  along  the  whole  curve  of  the  outer  walls,  thus  rendering  perfectly  safe 
the  introduction  of  large  windows.60 

Chevets  with  Pierced  Panels 

Still  another  interesting  characteristic  of  certain  chevet  vaults  is  the 
presence  of  openings  from  one  cell  to  the  next  in  the  lower  portion  of  the 


Fig.  75. — Auxerre,  Cathedral. 


panels  between  them.  The  simplest  of  these  are  to  be  seen  in  the  cathedral 
of  Auxerre  (choir  finished  1234)  (Fig.  75),  and  it  seems  very  reasonable 
from  their  square  shape,  comparatively  small  size,  and  their  position  at 
the  beginning  of  the  curve  of  the  vault  cells  to  assume  that  they  were  in- 
tended to  hold  wooden  beams,  used,  quite  possibly,  as  supports  for  scaf- 
folding or  centering  for  the  rest  of  the  vault.  Whatever  their  use,  they 
may  be  the  prototypes  of  such  larger  openings  as  those  in  the  cathedral 
of  Bourges  (after  1215)  (Fig.  76),  which  may  not  only  have  been  used 

*’  Needless  to  say,  no  flying-buttresses  are  necessary  with  such  a vault  as  the  thrusts 
are  easily  absorbed  by  the  piers. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


157 


in  a similar  manner  but  which,  from  their  circular  shape  and  moulded 
character,  supply  a certain  amount  of  decoration  to  this  part  of  the  vault 
and  even  serve  in  a slight  degree  to  distribute  the  light  from  its  windows 
over  a larger  area.01  An  even  greater  amount  of  decoration  is  obtained  by 
the  use  of  tracery  in  the  similar  openings  in  the  cathedral  of  Orleans 
(begun  1630),  which  are  of  larger  size  and  of  a generally  triangular 


Fig.  76. — Bourges,  Cathedral. 


shape.62  The  final  development  of  such  tracery  panels  may  be  seen  in  the 
Brunnenkapelle  of  Magdeburg  cathedral  (fourteenth  century)63  where 
the  apse  vault  proper  becomes  practically  a flat  ceiling  the  entire  space  be- 
tween it  and  each  of  the  ribs  being  filled  with  tracery. 


1,1  Similar  openings  are  to  be  seen  in  the  apse  of  Saint  Nazaire  at  Carcassonne. 

02  For  other  examples  showing  the  employment  of  this  feature  even  in  the  Renaissance 
see  Enlart,  I,  p.  506,  note  2. 

63  Hartung,  I,  pi.  15. 


CHAPTER  IV 


AMBULATORY  VAULTS 
Early  Ambulatories 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  essay  to  enter  into  a discussion  of  the 
origin  of  the  ambulatory  and  its  introduction  into  the  church  plan.1  It 
is  sufficient  to  note  that  a passage  around  a semicircular  apse  appears 
even  in  Roman  times  in  the  imperial  tribune  of  the  so-called  stadium  of 
Domitian  on  the  Palatine  at  Rome  which  dates  from  the  second  century 
A.D.,2  and  that  a similar  passage  was  added  around  the  apse  of  San 
Giovanni  in  Laterano  by  Pope  Sergius  II  (844-845). 3 

Such  ambulatories  were  mere  service  galleries,  not  directly  connected 
with  the  apse  and  in  fact  shut  off  from  it  by  a solid  wall,  but  when  once 
adopted  as  a feature  of  the  church  plan,  the  ambulatory  rapidly  became 
an  aisle  around  the  apse  corresponding  in  all  respects  to  that  which  flanked 
the  rectangular  nave  or  choir.4  It  was  natural,  therefore,  that  this  added 
aisle  should  have  been  vaulted  and  such  is  the  case  in  the  two  earliest 
ambulatories  of  any  size  which  still  exist,  namely,  those  in  Santo  Stefano 
at  Verona  (end  of  tenth  century)  and  the  cathedral  of  Ivrea  (973-1001 
or  1002), 3 while  the  early  ambulatories  in  France,  like  those  of  Saint 
Martin  at  Tours  (end  of  eleventh  century)  and  the  cathedral  of  Clermont- 
Ferrand,  which  have  unfortunately  been  destroyed,  were  doubtless  also 
vaulted. 

1 For  a discussion  of  this  point  see  E.  Gall’s  series  of  articles  on  the  ambulatory  in 
Monatschefte  fur  Kunstwissenschaft,  beginning  with  the  fifth  volume,  1912,  pp.  134-149. 

2 See  Rivoira  I,  p.  184. 

3 Now  destroyed.  See  Rivoira  I,  p.  184. 

* Some  examples  of  the  walled  off  ambulatory  are  found,  however.  See  Enlart,  I, 
p.  234,  note  5. 

r'  See  Rivoira,  I,  p.  183,  for  dates  of  Santo  Stefano  and  Ivrea. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 59 


Origin  of  Ambulatory  Vaulting 

That  the  form  which  such  vaulting  assumes  owes  its  origin  to  that  of 
the  concentric  aisles  in  earlier  buildings  of  circular  plan  would  seem  a 
most  natural  supposition  since  the  problems  in  the  two  cases  were  pre- 
cisely alike.  As  a matter  of  fact,  a comparison  shows  that  all  or  nearly 
all  the  methods  of  vaulting  developed  in  the  Roman  or  Byzantine  period 
for  the  aisles  of  circular  buildings  were  tried  by  the  Romanesque  builders 
when  they  added  an  ambulatory  to  the  semicircular  apses  of  their  churches. 

Annular  Tunnel  Vaults 

The  principal  Roman  type  would  seem  to  have  been  the  annular  tunnel 
vault.  An  excellent  example  is  to  be  seen  in  the  amphitheatre  at  Nimes  in 
which  the  builders  have  even  employed  transverse  arches  of  stone  beneath 
the  vault  of  brick.0  Similar  in  character,  though  later  in  date  and  without 
transverse  arches,  is  the  fourth  century  annular  vault  of  Santa  Costanza 
in  Rome.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  the  annular  tunnel  vault 
in  a number  of  the  earliest  Romanesque  ambulatories  as,  for  example,  at 
Ivrea  and  in  the  lower  story  of  Santo  Stefano  at  Verona,  both  dating 
from  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  and  somewhat  later  at  Vignory  in 
France  and  in  the  gallery  of  the  Tower  chapel  in  London.7  The  annular 
tunnel  vault  never  became  in  any  sense  a popular  form,  however,  probably 
because  it  necessitated  an  impost  above  the  level  of  the  apsidal  arches  and 
exerted  a continuous  thrust  throughout  its  whole  extent.  It  is  more  often 
to  be  found  in  crypts,  as  in  Saint  Wipertus  near  Quedlinburg  (936) 8 and  in 
Chartres  cathedral  (1020-1028)9  where  there  were  no  structural  problems 
of  support,  or  else  with  its  imposts  lowered  and  cut  by  lunettes  into  an 
interpenetrating  form  which  is  really  an  elementary  groined  vault  and 
is  later  discussed. 

r’ An  annular  tunnel  vault  also  covered  the  passage  around  the  tribune  of  the  so-called 
stadium  of  Domitian  already  mentioned.  See  Rivoira,  I,  p.  184. 

'For  other  examples,  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  266,  note  6.  A similar  vault  is  sometimes  found 
in  the  aisles  of  circular  churches,  as  for  example  in  Ste.  Croix  at  Quimperle  (eleventh 
century).  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  IT,  pi.  5. 

8 See  Rivoira,  II,  p.  289. 

9 At  intervals  this  vault  is  cut  by  lunettes  or  groined  bays  but  it  is  fundamentally  an 
annular  tunnel  vault. 


i6o 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Ambulatories  with  Half  Tunnel  Vaults 

Besides  these  annular  vaults,  there  are  a few  examples  of  ambulatories 
with  half  tunnel  vaults  which  may  owe  their  origin  to  the  desire  of  the 
builders  to  keep  the  outer  impost  of  the  vaults  as  low  as  possible  and 
still  raise  the  inner  line  above  the  apsidal  arcade.10  In  any  event  such  an 
ambulatory  is  occasionally  found  in  churches  where  the  aisles  also  are  half- 
tunneled,  as,  for  example,  in  the  abbey  church  of  Montmajour  (cir. 
1015-1018)11  and  in  the  twelfth  century  church  of  Saintes.12  Though 
this  type  of  vault  apparently  has  no  pre-Romanesque  prototype,  it  is 
perhaps  possible  that  the  concentric  aisle  of  the  circular  church  of  Rieux- 
Merinville  (Aude)  (eleventh  century)13  affords  an  earlier  example  of  its 
use  over  a space  of  similar  plan.  There  is  also  an  interesting  use  of  a 
half-tunnel  vaulted  triforium  above  the  ambulatory  and  abutting  the  half 
dome  of  the  apse  which  opens  into  it  through  five  arches,  in  the  church  of 
Loctudy  (Finistere)  twelfth  century.14 

There  are,  however,  circular  buildings  of  the  Byzantine  and  Carolin- 
gian  periods  with  vaulted  aisles  which  may  well  have  furnished  the  proto- 
types for  other  methods  of  ambulatory  vaulting  which  the  Romanesque 
builders  employed.  One  of  these  is  the  Royal  Chapel  at  Aachen  (796- 
804),  in  which  the  aisles  are  two  stories  high  with  the  lower  story  covered 
by  groined  vaults  of  alternately  square  and  rectangular  plan  with  no 
transverse  arches  separating  the  bays.15 

Romanesque  Ambulatories  with  Alternating  Triangular  and 

Square  Bays 

Although  there  appear  to  be  no  Romanesque  churches  with  ambula- 
tories of  exactly  this  type,  there  are  a number  which  are  composed  of 
triangular  sections  of  an  annular  vault  alternating  with  groined  bays  of 
practically  square  plan.  One  of  these  is  the  upper  ambulatory  of  Santo 
Stefano  (end  of  tenth  century)  at  Verona,  while  a similar  arrangement 

10  Exactly  as  has  been  suggested  in  regard  to  similar  side  aisle  vaults. 

11  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  266,  note  6. 

12  Enlart,  I,  p.  34,  Fig.  T4. 

” Revoil,  I,  pi.  XLVIII. 

” Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  II,  pi.  25. 

16  Rivoira,  II,  p.  270,  Fig.  718. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


161 


may  be  seen  in  the  concentric  aisle  of  the  crypt  of  Saint  Benigne  at 
Dijon  (Cote  d’Or)  ( 1002-1018). 10  Moreover,  the  type  at  Aachen  of  alter- 
nate square  and  triangular  groined  hays,  is  to  be  seen  at  Paris  with  the 
addition  of  transverse  arches  between  the  hays,  in  Saint  Martin  des  Champs 
(cir.  1136)  and  at  Gloucester  in  the  beautiful  ambulatory  of  the  cathedral 
(1089-1100).  Furthermore,  this  alternation  of  square  and  triangular 
bays  was  of  quite  frequent  occurrence  in  the  ribbed  vaulted  ambulatories 
later  described. 

Ambulatories  with  Transverse  Tunnel  Vaults 
The  gallery  of  the  Palatine  chapel  at  Aachen  is  covered  in  still  another 
manner  by  a series  of  ramping  tunnel  vaults  alternately  triangular  and 
square  in  plan  and  springing  from  a series  of  transverse  arches.  Although 
never  exactly  copied  in  ambulatory  vaulting,  a similar  system  in  which 
ramping  groined  vaults  displace  the  simple  tunnel  form  appears  in  the 
gallery  of  the  north  transept  of  San  Fedele  at  Como  (twelfth  century)17 
while  the  system  of  ramping  the  vault  had  still  another  application  in  the 
trapezoidal  groined  vaults  of  San  Tommaso  at  Almeno-San-Salvatore,ls 
the  evident  object  being  to  get  a slant  above  the  vaults  suitable  for  an  ex- 
terior roof  which  might  rest  directly  upon  them.  But  if  ramping  tunnel 
vaults  were  not  used  over  the  ambulatory,  there  are  at  least  two  instances 
of  the  employment  of  expanding  transverse  tunnel  vaults  in  this  position 
and  these  may  well  be  products  of  the  Aachen  type.  The  ambulatory  at 
Vertheuil10  affords  an  example  dating  from  about  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  which  must  soon  have  been  followed  by  the  gallery  of  the  cathe- 
dral of  Notre  Dame  at  Mantes  (beg.  in  1160?)20  Here  the  vaults  are 
similar,  but  on  a much  larger  scale,  and  with  quite  different  transverse 
supports  consisting  of  lintels,  each  resting  upon  two  columns  placed  between 
the  apsidal  piers  and  the  outer  walls.21 

16  See  Rivoira,  II,  p.  8.  See  also  the  Duomo  Vecchio  at  Brescia  (Porter,  Cons,  of 
Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Fig.  49). 

17  Porter,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Fig.  53. 

18  Forte r,  Cons,  of  Lombard  and  Gothic  Vaults,  Fig.  5 2. 

19  Enlart,  I,  p.  273,  Fig.  105. 

29  The  date  of  this  cathedral  is  uncertain  and  the  exceptional  character  of  its  tri- 
forium  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  it  may  not  now  retain  its  original  arrangement, 
though  the  writer  has  no  proof  of  this  suggestion. 

r' In  some  instances  these  lintels  have  been  cut  through  with  an  arch  running  up  into 
the  surface  of  the  vault  between  the  bays. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


162 


Ambulatories  with  Groined  Vaulted  Trapezoidal  Bays 

All  of  the  ambulatory  types  thus  far  described  were  but  occasionally 
used  in  the  Romanesque  period.  Far  more  common,  and  in  fact  the  stand- 
ard form,  is  that  of  simple  four-part  groined  vaults  over  bays  of  trape- 
zoidal plan.  Here  again  the  plan  at  least  has  a Byzantine  prototype  in  the 
church  of  San  Vitale  at  Ravenna  where  the  concentric  aisle  is  divided  into 
trapezoids,  though  these  in  turn  are  cut  by  the  radiating  niches  of  the  cen- 
tral nave  and  the  groined  vaults  employed  are  therefore  of  irregular  form. 

Even  without  any  prototypes,  however,  this  arrangement  of  bays  is  a 
direct  outcome  of  the  use  of  an  annular  tunnel  vault  intersected  by  lunettes 
or  transverse  tunnels  opposite  the  apsidal  arches.  Such  vaults  may  in  fact 
be  seen  at  a comparatively  early  date  in  the  churches  of  Bois-Sainte-Marie 
(Saone-et-Loire)  (twelfth  century),  Champagne  (Ardeche),  and  Preuilly- 
sur-Claise  (Indre-et-Loire),  and  in  a reversed  sense  at  Saint  Savin 
(Vienne)  (cir.  1020-1040)  where  there  is  an  early  instance  of  a simple 
annular  vault  cut  by  expanding  transverse  tunnel  vaults  whose  intrados  at 
the  smaller  end  corresponds  to  that  of  the  apsidal  arches  but  whose  crowns 
rise  higher  than  that  of  the  vault  which  they  intersect.  There  are  no 
transverse  arches  and  yet  the  vault  is  really  composed  of  a series  of  trape- 
zoidal bays.  The  ambulatory  of  Saint  Sernin  at  Toulouse  (choir  conse- 
crated 1096)  shows  this  same  system  in  its  fully  developed  form.  There 
are  still  no  transverse  arches,  but  the  vault  is  no  longer  interpenetrating 
but  fully  groined,  yet  with  practically  level  crowns,  so  that  it  still  has  the 
general  form  of  intersecting  tunnel  vaults. 

It  was  far  more  common,  however,  for  the  Romanesque  builders  to 
separate  their  trapezoidal  bays  by  transverse  arches,  though  their  use  would 
seem  to  have  been  optional  rather  than  to  indicate  a more  developed  archi- 
tectural type,  since  they  are  found  at  an  early  date  in  the  ambulatory  of 
Saint  Philibert  at  Tournus  (Saone-et-Loire)  (1009-1019),  where  the  form 
of  the  vault  would  otherwise  be  of  interpenetrating  type.  It  is,  in  fact, 
less  developed  than  that  at  Saint  Sernin,  the  transverse  panels  being  con- 
siderably lower  than  the  concentric  portion  of  the  vault  thus  forming  simple 
lunettes  above  the  window  heads.  In  such  a vault,  the  transverse  arches 
are  structurally  valuable  only  in  so  far  as  they  make  possible  the  erection 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


*63 

of  the  vault  in  sections  and  consequently  serve  as  permanent  centering  and 
as  a stiffening  member  between  the  apsidal  piers  and  the  outer  walls.  In 
the  fully  developed  vaults  with  transverse  arches,  like  those  at  Paray-le- 
Monial  these  arches  serve  still  another  purpose.  Here  it  is  evident  that 
the  vault  was  laid  up  in  sections,  for  each  bay  is  domed  up  at  the  crown 
and  the  transverse  arch  not  only  carries  a little  of  the  weight  of  the  vault 
but  also  conceals  what  would  otherwise  be  an  awkward  intersection  line 
between  one  bay  and  the  next.  With  this  doming  up  of  the  vault  crown 
and  the  use  of  pointed  transverse  arches  to  replace  the  awkward  stilted 
form,  the  vault  of  Paray-le-Monial  marks  the  highest  point  possible  before 
the  introduction  of  the  diagonal  rib  in  the  Transitional  and  Gothic  periods. 

Ambulatories  with  Ribbed  Vaults 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  paper  to 
discuss  the  origin  of  ribbed  vaulting.  In  fact,  it  is  rather  the  intention  to 
accept  the  conclusions  of  Mr.  Porter  in  his  “Construction  of  Lombard  and 
Gothic  Vaults’’  that  this  innovation  arose  from  the  necessity  for  providing 
a centering  where  wood  was  not  to  be  easily  obtained  or  where  the  shape 
of  the  bays  or  their  position  in  the  church  made  a permanent  centering  of 
stone  or  brick  far  superior  to,  and  easier  of  construction  than,  a similar 
centering  in  wood.22  Accordingly  the  fact  that  some  of  the  earliest  ribbed 
vaults  appear  over  the  ambulatory  is  readily  explained  by  the  trapezoidal 
shape  of  the  vaulting  bays,  for  which  a wooden  centering  would  have  been 
especially  difficult  to  construct. 

Morienval 

Of  these  rib-vaulted  ambulatories,  the  earliest  which  has  come  down 
to  11s  would  seem  to  be  that  of  the  little  church  of  Morienval  (Ligs.  77,  78, 
79),  which  probably  dates  from  about  1120-1130.  A study  of  this  ambu- 
latory shows  most  clearly  the  gradual  changes  and  adjustments  which  mark 
the  development  of  perfected  rib  vaulting  from  its  groined  prototype.  I11 
size  this  is  an  insignificant  work  and  yet  historically  most  important.  Per- 
haps its  first  noticeable  feature  lies  in  the  use  of  slightly  pointed  apsidal 
arches  (Fig.  77),  showing  that  the  builders  grasped  in  at  least  a rudi- 

~ Previous  to  Porter  there  had  been  suggestions  of  this  origin  of  the  ribbed  vault  in 
Choisy’s  work  and  in  Rivoira’s  Lombardic  architecture,  but  their  studies  had  been 
largely  confined  to  vaults  whose  ribs  were  sunken  into  the  masonry  panels. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


164 

mentary  way  the  advantage  to  be  gained  in  thus  bringing  these  arches  up 
to  a point  where  they  would  be  nearly,  at  least,  on  a level  with  the  crown  of 
a semicircular  formeret.  The  use  of  these  formerets  or  wall  arches  is  a 
second  advance  in  this  vault  at  Morienval,  and  though  these  are  unneces- 


Fig.  77.— Morienval,  Church. 


sarily  heavy  and  in  two  orders  (Fig.  78)  they  do  reduce  the  width  of  the 
vaulting  bays  and  furthermore  they  clearly  define  the  wall  line  of  the  panels 
and  may  even  have  aided  in  the  support  of  the  wooden  centering  or  cerce  on 
which  the  severies  were  laid  up.  They  do  not  apparently  support  the  actual 
masonry  of  the  cell,  which,  as  is  clearly  shown  in  the  southwest  bay,  does 
not  follow  the  curve  of  the  formeret.23  The  transverse  arches  (Fig.  78) 
show  little  structural  advance,  for  they  are  still  round  headed.  They  are 
however  highly  stilted  yet  in  addition  to  this  the  builders  have  found  it 
necessary  to  pile  their  crowns  with  masonry  in  the  manner  already  de- 
scribed in  connection  with  the  vaults  at  Bury.24  It  is  in  the  use  and  ar- 

22  See  discussion  of  this  point  on  p.  136. 

21  See  p.  S3.  54- 


Fig.  78.— Morienval,  Church. 


Fig.  79. — Morienval,  Church 


1 66 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


rangement  of  the  diagonals  (Fig.  79)  that  the  chief  interest  in  this  early 
ambulatory  lies.  If  not  unknown  in  bays  of  rectangular  plan,  this  was 
probably  a first  attempt  to  apply  these  intersecting  ribs  to  bays  of  trapezoidal 
shape,  a problem  especially  difficult  when  these  bays  had  two  curved  sides. 
The  ambulatory  was  so  narrow  and  the  wall  piers  with  the  two  wall  arches 
extended  so  far  into  its  width  that  the  space  actually  to  be  covered  was  of 
such  a plan  that  ribs  directly  from  the  one  pier  to  that  diagonally  opposite 
would  have  intersected  almost  against  the  crown  oif  the  apsidal  arch.  To 
avoid  this  awkward  arrangement,  and  make  the  panels  of  more  equal  size, 
the  builders  either  timidly  broke  the  line  of  the  rib,  as  in  the  second  bay 
from  the  southwest  (Fig.  79),  or  curved  the  ribs  slightly  away  from  the 
crowruof  the  apse  arches  as  in  the  northwest  bay.  Whether  the  builders 
were  actually  experimenting  here  at  Morienval  with  the  position  of  the 
diagonals  and  whether  this  little  work  of  the  early  twelfth  century  had  any 
influence  upon  later  ambulatory  vaulting  may  be  an  open  question,  yet  it 
is  a fact  that  the  later  ambulatories  with  ribbed  vaults  over  trapezoidal 
bays  show  three  distinct  types  in  the  arrangement  of  the  diagonals  accord- 
ing as  these  are  left  straight  in  plan,  or  curved,  or  broken  to  bring  their 
crowns  to  a better  point  in  relation  to  the  crown  line  of  the  enclosing  arches. 

Trapezoidal  Ambulatory  Vaults  with  Straight  Diagonal  Ribs 

Of  the  three  types,  the  one  with  straight  diagonals  (Plate  111-a)  is 
perhaps  most  seldom  seen,  probably  because  of  the  awkward  place  at 
which  its  vault  crown  falls.  It  does  appear,  however,  in  the  cathedral  of 
Aversa  near  Naples23,  where  the  heaviness  of  the  ribs  would  seem  to 
denote  an  early  date.20  There  are  a few  later  examples  elsewhere,  among 

23  Plan  in  Rivoira,  I,  p.  222,  Fig.  327. 

"“If  Signor  Rivoira  is  correct  in  his  attribution  of  this  ambulatory  to  the  third  quarter 
of  the  eleventh  century  (Rivoira,  I,  pp.  222,  223),  it  affords  not  only  an  extremely  early 
example  of  the  straight  ribbed  type  but  an  instance  of  a ribbed  vaulted  ambulatory  of 
large  size  antedating  that  at  Morienval  by  half  a century.  I am  not  prepared  to  accept 
this  early  date.  The  general  elevation  of  the  piers  and  ribs,  the  geographical  situation 
of  the  church,  the  lack  of  any  similarly  vaulted  ambulatories  in  the  fifty  years  following 
its  construction  and  the  very  form  of  the  vaults,  which  may  easily  have  once  been  of 
the  groined  type  to  be  seen  in  the  gallery  of  Santo  Stefano  at  Verona  with  ribs  added 
at  a later  date  or  reconstruction  (note  lower  imposts  of  diagonal  ribs  and  expanding 
sofits  of  transverse  arches  like  those  at  Verona)  together  with  many  other  details  a 
discussion  of  which  the  limits  of  this  paper  forbids,  make  it  seem  most  improbable  that 
this  ambulatory  dates  from  1049-1078.  As  a matter  of  fact,  the  date  is  of  little  import- 
ance in  the  present  connection,  since  it  is  the  type  of  vault  employed  with  which  this 
study  is  largely  concerned. 


PLATE  III 


a b c d 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 68 

them  the  cathedrals  of  Langres  (Haute-Marne)  (end  of  twelfth  century) 
(Fig.  80)  and  Milan  (beg.  1386),  while  a similar  system  with  one  or  more 
added  ribs  in  the  outer  severy  is  to  be  seen  at  Pontoise  (Seine-et-Oise) 


Fig.  80. — Langres,  Cathedral. 


S.  Maclou  (Plate  Ill-h),  in  the  cathedral  of  Rouen  (Plate  Ill-d),  and  in 
Saint  Remi  at  Reims  (Fig.  83),  which  are  later  described. 

Trapezoidal  Ambulatory  Vaults  with  Curved  Diagonal  Ribs 
A little  more  common,  perhaps,  are  the  ambulatories  with  diagonal 
ribs  of  curved  plan  (Plate  IH-b).  The  earliest  existing  example  subse- 
quent to  Morienval  would  seem  to  be  that  of  the  abbey  church  at  Saint 
Germer-de-Fly  (cir.  1 1 30-1 150). 27  Its  ribs  correspond  in  general  to  the 
curve  of  the  groins  which  would  be  produced  by  the  intersection  of  a 

27  Plan  and  interior  view  in  Moore,  pp.  72,  73,  Figs.  26,  27. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


169 


transverse  with  an  annular  tunnel  vault.  Such  ribs  are  naturally  difficult 
to  construct  because  of  their  curvature  in  plan  as  well  as  in  elevation  and 
as  a result  they  are  but  seldom  found,  though  an  example  on  a large  scale 
appears  in  Bourges  cathedral  (Plate  IV-a). 

Trapezoidal  Ambulatory  Vaults  with  Broken  Ribs 

The  solution  of  the  problem  of  covering  a trapezoidal  bay  with  ribbed 
vaults  lay  in  the  employment  of  the  broken  rib,  or  in  other  words,  in  the 
selection  of  a point  of  intersection  from  which  four  half  arches  were  ex- 
tended to  the  supporting  piers  (Plate  III-c).  This  system,  which  was 
very  possibly  first  employed  at  Saint  Denis  ( 1 140-1 144), 28  became  the 
standard  throughout  the  best  Gothic  period  wherever  trapezoidal  bays 
were  used,  though  there  was  a certain  amount  of  variance  in  the  position 
of  the  keystone.  At  Saint  Denis,  and  in  the  great  majority  of  the  best 
Gothic  churches  it  lies  practically  on  the  line  of  a curve  through  the 
crowns  of  the  apsidal  arches  and  concentric  with  that  of  the  apse,29  but  in 
some  instances,  notably  at  Sens  cathedral30  and  in  the  ambulatory  of 
Canterbury31  which  was  directly  influenced  by  the  first-named  church,  the 
point  of  intersection  was  moved  outward  to  a point  where  the  line  from 
this  crown  to  the  transverse  arch  is  practically  perpendicular  to  the  latter. 
The  result  is  an  equalizing  in  length  of  the  four  half  ribs,  but  this  is  ac- 
complished only  at  a considerable  sacrifice  in  appearance.32 

Method  of  Construction  in  Ambulatory  Vaults 

The  actual  construction  of  ambulatory  vaulting  followed  much  the 
same  course  as  that  of  vaults  in  the  remainder  of  the  church  and  espe- 
cially those  in  the  side  aisles.  Thus  in  the  cathedral  of  Langres  (Fig.  80), 
which  dates  from  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century  and  is  somewhat  south 
of  the  center  of  architectural  development  in  the  Transitional  period,  the 
ambulatory  presents  a number  of  rudimentary  characteristics.  In  fact, 
judging  from  the  awkward  manner  in  which  the  diagonals  rise  from  their 

28  Plan  in  Moore,  p.  83,  Fig.  34. 

29  This  may  be  plainly  seen  at  the  cathedral  of  Tournai  (Fig.  85). 

30  Moore,  Mediaeval  'Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  96,  Fig.  82  and  pi.  XV,  opp. 
p.  104. 

31  Crypt  illustrated  in  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  p.  94,  Fig.  80, 
Trinity  chapel,  p.  103  Fig.  86  and  pi.  XIV.  opp.  same  page. 

32  See  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  pp.  94-95. 


I/O 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


imposts,  the  exceptionally  large  size  of  the  transverse  arches,  and  the 
lowness  of  those  opening  into  the  apse,  it  would  seem  as  though  this  aisle 
had  been  planned  for  domed  up  groined  vaulting  of  the  Bourgogne  type, 
already  seen  at  Paray-le-Monial,  and  that  ribbed  vaulting  came  in  before 
the  completion  of  the  ambulatory  and  was  therefore  substituted.  In  any 
event,  these  straight  diagonals  and  low  apsidal  arches  combined  with  the 
heavy  transverse  arches  and  the  decidedly  domed  up  character  of  the 
vaults  themselves  produce  a much  more  primitive  appearance  than  is  to 
be  seen  further  north  in  the  contemporary  vaults  of  Saint  Leu-d’Esserent 
(Fig.  81).  In  the  latter,  the  builders  have  stilted  the  apsidal  and  trans- 


Fig.  8i. — Saint  Leu-d’Esserent,  Abbey  Church. 


verse  arches,  thus  greatly  reducing  the  doming  of  the  vaults.  They  have 
also  provided  an  impost  for  the  diagonals  which  are  themselves  of  the 
broken  type,  and  in  fact  the  form  of  the  vaults  is  practically  perfected  ex- 
cept in  the  matter  of  the  transverse  arches.  These  are  still  much  heavier 
than  the  diagonals,  a feature  which  continues  to  be  manifest  though  in  a 
less  marked  degree  in  many  of  the  ambulatory  vaults  even  of  the  thirteenth 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


171 

century.  They  correspond  in  this  respect  to  side  aisle  vaulting.3"  Only 
occasionally,  as  in  the  splendid  inner  ambulatory  of  Le  Mans  cathedral 
(1218-1254),  were  the  ribs  all  made  of  the  same  size.  This  advance  com- 
bined with  its  height  and  general  character  may  perhaps  entitle  the  ambu- 
latory of  Le  Mans  to  rank  as  the  finest  in  Gothic  architecture  and  the  high 
water  mark  of  the  trapezoidal  four-part  broken  ribbed  vault. 

Trapezoidal  Ambulatory  Vaults  with  Added  Ribs 
If  there  was  one  fault  in  the  broken  ribbed  type  of  ambulatory  vault 
just  described,  it  lay  in  the  form  of  its  intersection  with  the  outer  wall. 
For  example,  if  the  ambulatory  was  comparatively  low  or  the  apsidal 
arches  of  wide  span,  this  intersection  became  either  segmental  or  semi- 
circular or,  at  best  a very  low  pointed  curve,  under  which  it  was  most 
difficult  to  arrange  the  exterior  windows  and  still  produce  a pleasing  in- 
terior effect.  Thus  in  the  ambulatory  of  Sens  cathedral,34  the  two  round 
headed  windows  do  not  fill  the  space  beneath  the  wall  rib  and  are  in  fact 
awkwardly  placed  beneath  it,  while  in  the  ambulatory  of  Trinity  chapel 
in  Canterbury  cathedral,35  where  the  vaults  are  but  slightly  domed,  the 
arrangement  is  even  less  pleasing.  Of  course  when  these  arches  opened 
into  radiating  chapels,  their  shape  did  not  make  so  much  difference  since 
their  supporting  piers  ran  all  the  way  to  the  floor  and  therefore  gave  a 
fairly  good  proportion  to  the  arch.  But  if  the  entire  space  beneath  them 
were  occupied  by  a window  extending  only  part  way  to  the  floor,  it  would 
be  largely  head  and  very  little  jamb  and  thus  of  displeasing  proportions. 
Even  in  the  ambulatory  clerestory  of  Le  Mans,  where  the  transverse  and 
diagonal  ribs  are  all  of  very  pointed  section,  the  window  is  too  broad  for 
its  height.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  have  been  with  an  eye  to  a more 
pleasing  arrangement  of  the  windows  beneath  these  trapezoidal  vaults,  that 
many  of  the  mediaeval  builders  subdivided  the  outer  severy  of  extra  ribs 
running  out  from  the  central  keystone.  This  made  possible  two  or  more 
windows  in  the  outer  wall  of  each  bay.  Thus  in  the  alternate  bays  of  the 
ambulatory  of  Rouen  cathedral  (Plate  Ill-d),  where  there  are  no  radiating 
chapels,  a single  rib  is  added  in  the  outer  panel  making  the  vault  of  five- 
part  form,  so  that  the  heads  of  the  two  slender  windows  of  the  bay  are 

33  See  p.  99  for  theory  regarding  this. 

31  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  pi.  XV,  opp.  p.  104. 

3j  Moore,  Mediaeval  Church  Architecture  of  England,  pi.  XIV,  opp.  p.  103. 


172 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


each  situated  in  a separate  cell.  This  same  arrangement  is  characteristic 
of  a number  of  other  ambulatories,  including  the  lofty  inner  one  at  Cou- 
tances  cathedral  (Fig.  82,  and  Plate  III-e),36  where  the  windows  are 


Fig.  82. — Coutances,  Cathedral. 

limited  in  height  by  the  elevation  and  would  be  of  awkward  shape  were 
they  not  arranged  in  pairs  under  separate  vault  cells.37  Nor  did  the 
mediaeval  builders  restrict  themselves  to  a single  added  rib  in  this  outer 

“ Ambulatories  vaulted  in  a similar  manner  appear  in  Saint  Sauveur  at  Bruges,  the 
Groote  Kerk  at  Breda,  the  cathedral  of  Burgos,  the  church  at  Gonesse  (Seine-et-Oise) 
(plan  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  486,  Fig.  233)  etc.  Also,  in  Magdeburg  Cath.  (Hartung  I,  pi.  16), 
there  is  an  instance  in  which  the  intermediate  rib  is  shortened  evidently  to  admit  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  light. 

37  This  is  also  a church  employing  the  lancet  type  of  window  common  in  Normandy 
and  England  and  the  subdivision  of  the  ambulatory  thus  made  possible  windows  of 
general  lancet  shape.  Furthermore,  it  carried  the  subdivision  of  the  triforium  arcade 
into  the  clerestory  above.  (For  a large  photograph  of  this  ambulatory  see  Gurlitt,  pi.  84). 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


173 


severy  of  the  vault.  In  the  ambulatory  gallery  of  Saint  Remi  at  Reims 
(Fig.  83)  there  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  subdivision  of  this  panel 


into  three  window  cells  and  in  the  church  of  Saint  Germain  and  the  cathe- 
dral at  Auxerre  (Fig.  84  and  Plate  Ill-f)  there  are  excellent  examples  of 
a similar  method,  applied  both  in  bays  with  exterior  windows  and  in  those 
which  open  into  a radiating  chapel.  In  the  latter  instance,  the  lofty  and 
slender  shafts  between  this  chapel  and  the  ambulatory  with  their  many 
radiating  ribs  and  arches  give  a charming  appearance  of  grace  and  light- 
ness to  the  design. 

Ambulatory  Vaults  which  Include  the  Radiating  Chapels 
In  all  the  churches  thus  far  discussed,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  majority  of 
those  constructed  during  the  Gothic  period,  the  radiating  chapels  are  sepa- 
rated from  the  rest  of  the  ambulatory  by  arches  directly  across  their  en- 
trances. But  quite  frequently  these  chapels,  particularly  when  they  were 
comparatively  shallow,  as  in  the  cathedral  of  Chartres  (Plate  Ill-g),  or 


i/4 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


even  when  comparatively  deep  as  at  Saint  Denis3S  and  Saint  Maclou  at 
Pontoise  (Plate  Ill-h),  were  treated  as  part  of  the  ambulatory  and  an 
added  rib  was  introduced  in  vaulting  them  exactly  in  the  manner  described 
in  connection  with  the  trapezoidal  bays  of  Rouen  and  Coutances.  Further- 
more, as  the  chapels  were  increased  in  size,  more  than  one  extra  rib  was 
added  in  the  severy  of  the  trapezoidal  vault  which  embraced  them  so  that 


Fig.  84. — Auxerre,  Cathedral. 


there  were,  sometimes,  two  such  ribs,  as  in  the  cathedral  of  Tournai  (1240- 
1260)  (Fig.  85). 39  Occasionally,  also,  as  in  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Quen- 
tin (after  1230)  (Plate  Ill-i ) , similar  bays  and  vaults  occur,  with  the 
addition  of  large  radiating  chapels  opening  off  of  the  more  shallow  curves 
of  the  ambulatory  bays,  suggesting  a combination  of  the  Tournai  type 
with  that  of  Auxerre  (Plate  Ill-f).  In  some  of  the  larger  and  deeper 
chapels  there  were  even  four  added  ribs  as,  for  example,  in  the  cathedral 

88  Plan  in  Moore,  p.  83,  Fig.  34. 

™ Similar  vaults  appear  at  Coutances  Cath.,  outer  ambulatory,  Utrecht  Cath.  (ridge 
ribs  added)  Malmo,  Ch.,  and  Lagny,  Ab.  Ch.  (illustrated  in  Lenoir,  part  II,  p.  207). 


Fig.  85. — Tournai,  Cathedral. 


Fig.  86. — Bayonne,  Cathedral. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


176 

of  Bayonne  (Fig.  86),  where  the  ambulatory  is  further  noteworthy  be- 
cause the  builders,  in  an  attempt  to  equalize  the  vaulting  severies,  have 
moved  the  keystones  of  the  diagonals  almost  out  to  a point  on  the  line  of 
the  outer  walls.  As  a matter  of  fact,  it  was  moved  out  to  such  a point 
in  a number  of  instances  (Plate  Ill-j ) , as,  for  example,  in  Soissons  cathe- 
dral40 where  it  becomes  the  keystone  of  an  arch  directly  across  the  entrance 
of  the  chapel  as  well  as  being  the  center  for  all  the  ribs  both  of  this  chapel 
and  the  ambulatory.  Each  trapezoidal  bay  is  thus  divided  not  into  four 
but  into  three  triangular  panels,  the  chapel  itself  being  covered  by  a fully 
developed  five-part  chevet  vault  for  which  the  two  ribs  of  the  ambulatory 
bay  act  as  buttresses.  A similar  but  more  logical  vault  appears  in  the  am- 
bulatory ~and  two  eastern  chapels  of  Pamplona  cathedral  (begun  1397) 
(Plate  Ill-k).  This  is  a church  with  an  axial  eastern  pier,  and  its  radiat- 
ing chapels  are  arranged  so  as  to  form  perfect  hexagons  with  the  bays  of 
the  ambulatory.  The  keystone  is  then  moved  out,  as  at  Soissons,  to  the 
crown  of  the  chapel  arch  where  it  lies  in  the  exact  center  of  each  hexa- 
gonal bay  and  thus  produces  a perfectly  symmetrical  vault. 

Ambulatories  with  Alternate  Square  and  Triangular  Bays 

Although  the  trapezoidal  bay  and  its  variants  has  been  the  only  one 
thus  far  considered  in  the  discussion  of  ribbed  vaulted  ambulatories,  it 
was  not  by  any  means  universally  employed.  The  alternation  of  square 
and  triangular  bays,  which  had  been  used  as  early  as  the  Carolingian 
period  in  the  royal  chapel  at  Aachen,  and  in  the  tenth  century  at  Verona, 
in  groined  vaulted  ambulatories,  also  played  a considerable  role  after  the 
use  of  ribs  became  general.  This  system  afforded  a number  of  structural 
advantages,  the  chief  one  being,  of  course,  that  the  major  bays  were 
square  or  nearly  so,  and  therefore  presented  no  structural  problems  not 
already  solved  in  other  portions  of  the  church,  while  the  triangular  di- 
visions were  of  comparatively  small  size  and  could  be  covered  in  the  same 
manner  as  in  the  Romanesque  period,  with  three-part  groined  vaults,  pro- 
vided the  builders  wished  to  avoid  attempting  ribbed  vaults  over  them. 

Two  general  plans  are  noticeable  in  the  use  of  this  alternate  ambu- 
latory system.  In  the  first,  which  appears  at  an  early  date  in  Saint  Martin 
of  Ltampes  (1165),  Saint  Remi  at  Reims  (1 170-1181),  and  Notre  Dame 

4,1  Plan  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  505,  Fig.  244. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 77 


at  Chalons-sur-Marne  (end  of  twelfth  century),  the  square  bays  alternate 
with  two  triangular  bays  or,  in  other  words,  the  ambulatory  is  first  di- 
vided into  trapezoids  by  transverse  arches  and  these  in  turn  subdivided 
into  a square  and  two  triangles.  This  system  may  be  understood  from  the 
plan  of  Saint  Remi  (Plate  III-l)  and  the  interior  view  of  the  same 
church  (Fig.  87).  Its  most  noticeable  feature  is  the  lack  of  ribs  in  the 


Fig.  87. — Reims,  Saint  Remi. 

triangular  bays,  these  remaining  of  simple  Romanesque  groined  type.  Ex- 
actly the  same  arrangement  appears  at  Chalons-sur-Marne,  except  that 
here  the  arches  into  the  apse  correspond  to  the  flat  sides  of  a polygon, 
while  those  opening  into  the  chapels  are  on  a curve  in  order  that  the  ex- 
terior wall  of  the  triforium  above  them  may  be  a semicircle.41  In  both 

41  Violet-le-Duc  (Vol.  IV,  pp.  75-77)  calls  attention  to  the  architectural  refinements  in 
this  church,  mentioning  the  use  of  arches  flattened  on  their  inner  face  and  curved  on 
the  outer  between  the  apse  and  triforium.  It  is  also  interesting  to  note  that  here 


i;8 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


these  churches,  the  radiating  chapels  occupy  all  the  space  included  beneath 
each  group  of  three  outer  arches  in  a manner  similar  to  that  described  in 
connection  with  the  cathedral  of  Auxerre,  but  in  Saint  Martin  at  Ltampes, 
the  chapel  is  limited  in  width  to  the  span  of  the  central  arch,  making  pos- 
sible a window  in  the  exterior  wall  of  each  of  the  triangular  bays.  A very 
similar  arrangement  appears  in  the  outer  ambulatory  of  Bourges  cathedral 
(cir.  1195-1215)  (Plate  IV-a),  except  that  here  the  chapels  are  so  narrow 
as  to  give  a reversed  trapezoidal  character  to  what  would  otherwise  be  a 
square  bay  like  that  at  Rtampes  and  Saint  Remi.  Even  though  the  tri- 
angular severies  are  thus  increased  in  size,  the  builders  have  left  their 
vaults  unribbed. 

The  second  system  of  alternating  square  and  triangular  bays  may  be 
seen  in  the  outer  ambulatory  of  the  cathedral  of  Le  Mans  (Plate  IV-b) 
and  in  both  ambulatories  of  the  cathedral  at  Toledo  (1227 — seventeenth 
century).42  It  is  the  familiar  early  mediaeval  system  of  a single  triangular 
bay  between  two  squares  with  the  addition  of  ribs  beneath  the  vaults  in  all 
the  bays.  The  chief  effect  of  this  system  upon  the  construction  was  to 
subdivide  the  outer  line  of  the  ambulatory  into  twice  as  many  parts  as 
there  were  in  the  apse.  This  created  a certain  difficulty  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  buttresses,  for  the  lack  of  any  transverse  arch  directly  across  the 
ambulatory  from  the  apsidal  piers  to  the  outer  walls  made  necessary  the 
subdivision  of  the  flying-buttresses  into  two  parts.  This  subdivision  must 
have  added  considerably  to  the  expense  and  difficulty  of  construction, 
though  this  was  somewhat  offset  by  the  reduced  size  of  the  buttress  piers 
and  their  position  in  the  thickness  of  the  chapel  walls,  where  they  in  no 
way  interfered  with  the  introduction  of  windows  directly  in  the  outer  walls 
of  the  triangular  ambulatory  bays.  Though  not  extensively  employed, 
this  vaulting  system  which  is  to  be  seen  at  Le  Mans  shared  with  all  others 
the  tendency  of  the  late  Gothic  period  to  add  extra  ribs  to  those  forming 
the  real  framework  of  the  vaults.  Such  added  ribs  are  to  be  seen  in  Saint 
Willibrord  at  Wesel  and  Saint  Lorenz  at  Nurnberg.  Similar  also  to  the 

as  in  Saint  Remi  the  vault  of  the  triforium  differs  from  that  of  the  ambulatory  proper. 
The  arrangement  at  Saint  Remi  has  been  described,  that  at  Chalons  consists  of  a simple 
four-part  vault  of  trapezoidal  form  with  outer  and  inner  sides  curved. 

^Examples  at  Strassburg,  Cath.,  Neubourg  (Eure),  ch.  (irregular  type  of  ch.  with 
central  pier  and  triangular  apse.  See  plan  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  590,  Fig.  317)  and  Tewkes- 
bury Abbey  (here  even  the  triangular  bays  open  into  chapels).  See  also  Clery  (Loiret) 
(fifteenth  century)  (plan  in  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  III,  pi.  60). 


PLATE  IV 


i8o 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


Le  Mans  type,  but  with  the  entire  omission  of  the  transverse  arches 
between  the  triangular  and  trapezoidal  bays,  is  the  system  at  Saint 
Pierre-sur-Dives  (Calvados)43  which  is  thus  like  the  outer  ambulatory  of 
Coutances  cathedral  (Plate  Ill-e) , except  that  the  chapels  are  not  included 
beneath  the  ambulatory  vault  and  the  portions  containing  the  three  half 
ribs  are  more  in  proportion  to  the  larger  cross  ribbed  severies. 

Ambulatories  with  Triangular  Bays  Only 

Another  method  of  ambulatory  vaulting  in  the  Gothic  period  consisted 
in  the  subdivision  of  the  apsidal  aisles  into  triangles  by  adding  inter- 
mediate supports  between  each  pier  forming  the  outside  corners  of  trape- 
zoidal bays.  This  method,  never  had  a wide  popularity.  It  was  used  at 
a comparatively  early  date  and  on  a large  scale  in  the  cathedral  of  Notre 
Dame  at  Paris  (begun  1163)  (Plate  IV-c),  where  the  triangular  bays 
have  no  ribs  beneath  their  masonry.  It  appears  with  the  addition  of  three 
half  ribs  or  even  a still  greater  number,  in  a number  of  late  Gothic  churches, 
especially  in  Germany,44  and  was  also  used  at  Saint  Eustache  (1532- 
1 637 ) 45  and  Saint  Severin46  in  Paris,  whose  builders  may  very  probably 
have  been  influenced  by  the  cathedral  church  of  Notre  Dame.  In  Notre 
Dame,  where  there  are  two  ambulatories  the  doubling  of  the  piers  did  not 
do  away  with  the  possibility  of  a central  eastern  chapel  or  window  in  the 
exterior  wall.  But  in  most  cases,  where  there  is  but  one  aisle,  as,  for 
example,  in  the  Marienkirche  at  Stargarde  (end  of  fourteenth  century) 
(Plate  IV-d)  or  the  old  cathedral  of  Heidelberg,47  an  axial  pier  prevents 
this  arrangement.  Perhaps  to  avoid  this  the  builders  of  Saint  Steven  at 
Nymwegen  and  of  the  cathedral  at  Brandenburg  left  the  eastern  bay 
trapezoidal  so  that  there  might  be  a central  Lady  chapel.  At  Kolin4S 
where  there  is  an  axial  pier  in  the  apse  a central  chapel  off  the  ambu- 
latory naturally  follows. 

Plan  in  Caumont,  p.  396. 

‘‘‘Examples  not  mentioned  include,  Beeskow ; Keisheim ; Stargarde,  Johanniskirche 
(slightly  elaborated)  ; Treptow  (considerably  elaborated)  ; Worms,  Liebfrauenkirche ; 
Arles,  Saint  Trophime,  etc. 

K'  Plan  in  Gaudet,  III,  p.  247,  Fig.  1108. 

■“’Plan  in  Gaudet,  III,  p.  240,  Fig.  1104. 

” These  two  churches  not  only  show  the  vault  with  simple  added  ribs  but  the  last 
named  is  most  interesting  as  showing  an  ambulatory  equal  in  height  to  the  apse,  a most 
unusual  arrangement. 

“This  church  also  presents  certain  changes  in  the  arrangement  of  the  ribs  but  these 
are  unimportant. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


181 


Ambulatories  with  Multiple  Ribbed  Vaults 

As  has  been  noted,  the  late  Gothic  passion  for  multiple  ribs  affected 
the  ambulatory  as  it  did  the  remainder  of  the  church,  and  vaults  of  most 
complex  character  are  to  be  found  especially  in  certain  German  churches. 
Of  these,  Giiben  (Plate  IV-e)  and  the  cathedral  of  Freiburg  (second  half 
of  the  fifteenth  century)  (Fig'.  88)  are  among  the  most  elaborate.49  In 
them,  the  structural  purpose  of  the  rib  is  totally  subordinated  to  deco- 


Fig,  88. — Freiburg,  Cathedral. 


rative  principles  and  to  a desire  on  the  part  of  the  builders  to  show  their 
knowledge  of  the  intricate  problems  of  stereotomy.  With  such  vaults  as 
these,  marking  the  decline  of  Gothic  architecture,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
there  was  such  a complete  reaction  in  vault  construction  on  the  part  of  the 
succeeding  Renaissance  builders. 

With  this  discussion  of  the  ambulatory,  the  study  of  mediaeval  church 

49  See  also  Kuttenberg. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


1 82 

vaulting  is  practically  complete,  but  a few  paragraphs  should  be  added  to 
give  a short  account  of  some  unusual  eastern  terminations  and  a brief 
reference  to  the  radiating  chapels.  Both  of  these,  while  presenting  no 
great  structural  accomplishments,  at  least  show  the  skill  of  the  builders  in 
meeting  any  and  all  requirements  imposed  by  the  plan. 

Exceptional  Eastern  Terminations 

Of  the  eastern  terminations,  a number  are  especially  interesting.  One 
is  in  the  church  of  Saint  Yved  at  Braisne  (Aisne)  (1180-1216)  (Plate 
IV-f),  where  there  is  no  ambulatory  and  yet  two  chapels  have  been  so 
arranged  with  their  axes  at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  to  that  of  the 
choir  aisle  as  to  form  a veritable  series  of  four  radiating  chapels,  two  on 
either  side  of  the  principal  apse.  To  cover  the  triangular  bays  immediately 
preceding  these  chapels,  a two-part  vault  corresponding  to  one  of  the 
diagonal  halves  of  a simple  four-part  vault,  is  employed,  while  the  chapel 
itself  is  covered  with  a three-part  chevet  whose  crown  is  abutted  by  the 
half  rib  of  the  preceding  bay.50  Occasionally,  too,  a similar  arrangement 
of  chapels  is  found  even  where  there  is  an  ambulatory  as  in  the  church 
of  Saint  Nicaise  at  Reims  (now  destroyed)  and  at  Upsala.  Another  termi- 
nation of  interest  is  that  in  the  church  of  Vigan  (Lot)51  (fifteenth  cen- 
tury) where  the  apse  with  its  chevet  vault  is  west  of  the  transept,  into  which 
it  opens  through  its  farthest  bay  while  from  the  transept  itself  open  five 
small  chapels,  a unique  arrangement. 

A third  eastern  termination  of  especial  interest  is  that  of  the  church  of 
the  Jacobins  at  Toulouse  (Haute-Garonne)  (Fig.  89  and  Plate  IV-g). 
Here  there  is  a row  of  central  piers  the  length  of  the  church  and  the  apse 
embraces  the  double  nave  thus  formed.  This  apse  the  builders  have  sub- 
divided into  a series  of  triangular  bays  by  arches  springing  from  a pier 
at  the  center  of  its  diameter.  Each  of  these  is  again  subdivided  like  the 
triangular  ambulatory  bays  of  Le  Mans  cathedral.  This  completes  a vault 

60  A similar  plan  on  a smaller  scale  and  with  only  two  side  chapels  occurs  at  Ville- 
neuve-le-Comte  (Seine-et-Marne)  (plan  in  Enlart,  I,  p.  485,  Fig.  232)  and  the  same 
arrangement  in  churches  with  central  plan  appears  at  Trier  in  the  Liebfrauenkirche 
while  other  examples  include  Lisseweghe ; Toul,  Saint  Gengoulf ; Xant;  Oppenheim ; 
Ludinghausen ; Anclam;  Lubeclc,  Saint  Jakob;  Lagny  (Seine-et-Marne)  (illustrated  in 
Lenoir,  Part  II,  p.  207)  and  Kaschau  (Hungary)  (illustrated  in  Lenoir,  Part  II,  p.  208). 
See  also  Enlart,  I,  p.  485,  note  2. 

01  Baudot  and  Perrault-Dabot,  V,  pi.  79. 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


183 

of  very  beautiful  character.  It  is  not,  however,  an  original  product  in 
Toulouse,  for  the  crypt  of  Canterbury  cathedral  (1175-1184)  affords  a 
similar  vault  of  earlier  date  and  others  on  a circular  plan  may  be  seen  in  a 
number  of  English  Chapter  Houses. 

The  Vaulting  of  Radiating  Chapels 

As  for  the  radiating  chapels,  they  were  added  to  the  ambulatory  with 
the  evident  purpose  of  affording  more  space  for  altars  especially  in  the 
great  pilgrimage  churches.52  At  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century, 


Fig.  89. — Toulouse,  Chukch  of  the  Jacobins. 


three  such  chapels  had  already  been  built  off  the  ambulatory  of  Saint 
Martin  at  Tours  and  only  slightly  later  in  date  are  those  in  La  Couture  at 
Le  Mans  followed  by  those  of  a great  number  of  churches  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries.53  Nor  are  such  chapels  found  only  in  churches 
with  ambulatories.  They  frequently  open  directly  off  the  apse,  sometimes 
being  merely  recesses  in  the  thickness  of  the  outer  wall54  but  more  often 

62  Such  chapels  were  frequently  omitted  all  through  both  the  Romanesque  and  Gothic 
periods  even  in  churches  with  an  ambulatory  and  were  not  therefore  established  parts 
of  the  church  plan.  For  examples  of  such  chapels  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  228  note  2 and  p.  485 
note  3 and  Lasteyrie,  p.  297. 

“ For  discussion  of  prototypes  see  Lasteyrie,  pp.  187,  188. 

“For  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  301  and  Enlart,  I,  p.  231,  note  4. 


i84 


MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


extending  beyond  it.5,3  Ordinarily,  however,  churches  with  radiating 
chapels  have  an  ambulatory  as  well ; but  even  so,  there  are  occasional  ex- 
amples of  chapels  lying  entirely  within  the  thickness  of  the  exterior 
wall.56  in  which  cases  they  are  merely  half-domed  niches. 

Whenever  these  radiating  chapels  are  found  there  is  considerable  va- 
riance both  in  their  number  and  ground  plan.  Sometimes  there  is  but  one,° 7 
sometimes  two,58  in  the  majority  of  cases  three,59  very  seldom  four,60  but 
frequently  five.61  In  plan,  the  chapels  are  generally  semicircular  with  or 
without  one  or  more  preceding  rectangular  bays.62  Naturally  they  are 
vaulted  exactly  in  the  manner  used  for  the  principal  apse  of  the  church 
or  the  minor  apses  of  the  transept  at  the  time  the  chapels  were  built.  The 
usual  Romanesque  form  is  the  simple  half  dome  like  that  in  Saint  Nicolas 
at  Blois,  which  is  especially  interesting  because  it  still  retains  its  painted 
decoration.  As  the  ribbed  half  dome  came  in  in  apse  vaulting  it  appeared 
in  a number  of  radiating  chapels,  at  Domont  and  Saint  Martin  of  Ltampes, 
for  example,  but  the  usual  Gothic  form  was  the  chevet  vault  which  corre- 
sponds exactly  with  that  over  the  major  apse,  except  when  it  is  combined 
with  the  ambulatory  vault  in  the  manner  already  described,63  or  is  of 
square,64  circular,  polygonal,  or  irregular  plan.65  In  such  cases  the  vault- 
ing is  adapted  to  the  plan  without  any  great  structural  changes  from  the 
types  found  in  the  remainder  of  the  church.  The  cathedral  of  Auxerre 
(Fig.  84  and  Plate  Ill-f ) , for  example,  shows  the  use  of  a ten-part  vault 
over  a square  chapel,  while  Saint  Germain  also  at  Auxerre  and  Saint  Remi 
at  Reims  (Fig.  87  Plate  III-l)  have  chapels  of  almost  circular  plan  cov- 
ered with  a vault  which  is  virtually  a double  Gothic  chevet  like  that  of  the 
transept  chapels  of  Soissons  and  Laon  cathedrals  already  described.66 

55  For  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  301  and  Enlart,  I,  p.  486,  note  1. 

50  See  Enlart,  I,  p.  231,  note  2. 

57  For  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  297,  and  Enlart  I,  p.  233,  note  1 and  p.  486,  note  3. 

“For  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  297,  and  Enlart,  I,  p.  233,  note  2. 

r’"  For  examples  see  Lasteyrie,  p.  297,  and  Enlart,  I,  p.  233,  note  3. 

“Orcival  (Lasteyrie,  p.  297,  Fig.  458). 

01  For  examples  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  233,  note  3. 

Rather  rare  in  the  'Romanesque  period.  For  examples  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  232. 

03  See  page  173  et  seq. 

“For  examples  of  square  chapels  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  231,  note  2 and  p.  487,  note  7. 

r"  For  example,  the  chapels  with  other  chapels  added  to  them  toward  the  east  at 
Norwich  cath.  and  Mehun-sur-Yevre  ('Cher)  see  Enlart,  I,  p.  234,  note  4. 

“See  p.  1 12. 


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MEDIAEVAL  CHURCH  VAULTING 


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INDEX 


Abbreviations. — Ch.,  Church;  Cath.,  Cathedral;  Ab.  Ch.,  Abbey  Church;  N.  D.,  Notre 
Dame;  S.  M.,  Santa  Maria,  Saint  Mary,  etc. 


Aachen — Royal  Chapel,  26, 
36,  160,  161,  176. 

Agliate — Ch.,  16,  note  35. 

Aigues-Vives — Ch.,  21. 

Airaines — Ch.,  48  note  160, 
161,  49. 

Aisles — vaults  of,  96  et  seq. 

Albi — Cath.,  80,  81  note  221, 
143  note  35,  Fig.  34. 

Almeno-San-Salvatore — San 
Tommaso,  161. 

Alternate  Supports — system 
of,  47. 

Ambert — Saint  Jean,  148. 

Amboise — Saint  Florentin, 
104. 

Ambulatory  — vaulting  of, 
158  et  seq. 

— origin  of  vaulting  of, 
159- 

— with  annular  tunnel 
vaults,  159. 

— with  half  tunnel  vaults, 
160 

— with  transverse  tunnel 
vaults,  161. 

— with  groined  vaulted 
trapezoidal  bays,  162. 

— with  ribbed  vaults,  163 
et  seq. 

— with  vaults  with  added 
ribs,  171. 

— with  multiple  ribbed 
vaults,  181. 

Amiens — Cath.,  79,  80,  86, 
100,  123,  137  note  29,  145, 
Fig.  69. 

Anclam — Ch.,  182  note  50. 

Angers — Cath.  Saint  Mau- 
rice, 48,  51  57,  123  note 
54,  155,  Figs.  19,  74. 

— La  Trinite,  70,  71,  Fig. 
30. 

—Saint  Serge,  51,  55,  104, 
Fig.  21. 

Angouleme — Cath.  of  Saint 
Pierre,  5,  6,  7,  8,  105, 
. 106,  Figs.  3,  4. 

Anjou — Churches  of,  49  et 
seq. 


Antwerp  — Saint  Jacques, 
150. 

Anzy-le-Duc — Ch.,  39. 

Apse — vaults  of,  124  et  seq. 

— vaulted  with  half  domes, 
124. 

— with  ribbed  half-domes, 
I25- 

— with  “groined”  half- 
domes, 128. 

— with  four-part  ribbed 
vaults,  129. 

— with  a central  pier,  152. 

Arbona — Ch.,  122. 

Arles — 17. 

— Saint  Trophime,  20,  146, 
180  note  44. 

— Saint  Honorat  in  Les 
Alyscamps,  125,  126. 

— Saint  Jean-de-Moustier, 
126  note  3. 

Assisi — San  Francesco,  52, 
57- 

Auvergne — School  of,  16,  25 
et  seq. 

Auxerre — Cath.,  123,  142 

note  34,  152.  156,  173, 
174,  178,  184,  Figs.  75,  84. 

— Saint  Germain,  173,  184. 

— Saint  Pierre,  152. 

Aversa — Cath.,  166. 

Avesnieres — Ch.,  49. 

Avignon — chapel  of  the 
Pont  Saint-Benezet,  99 
note  275. 

— Cath.  N.  D.  des  Dorns, 
1 15,  126. 

Azy — Chapel,  34  note  101, 
132. 

Barcelona — Cath.,  104  note 
279,  147,  148. 

Barletta — Cath.,  26  note  74. 

Bath — Ab.  Ch.,  92,  123. 

Bayeux — Cath.,  122  not  53, 
148,  I S3- 

— Seminaire,  Chapel  of, 
148  note  48. 

Bayonne — Cath.,  123,  148, 

176,  Fig.  86. 


Beaugency — Saint  Etienne, 
11 3- 

Beaulieu — Ab.  Ch.,  127. 

Beauvais — Basse-Oeuvre,  74. 

— Cath.,  69  note  190,  86, 
101,  Fig.  46. 

— Saint  Etienne,  67,  69,  74, 
96,  99,  Figs.  32,  44. 

— Saint  Lucien,  no  note 

15. 

Beeskow — Ch..,  180  note  44. 

Belem — Ab.  Ch.,  104  note 
279. 

Benevent-l’Abbaye — Ch.,  36, 
US- 

Bernay — Ch.,  42  note  138. 

Berne — Minster,  85  note  233, 
94- 

Bernieres-sur-Mer — Ch.,  64. 

Berzy-le-Sec. — Ch.,  127  note 
7- 

Beurey-Beauguay — Ch.,  1. 

Beverley — Minster,  79. 

Beziers — Cath.,  151,  155. 

Blois — Chateau,  chapel,  83, 
93-. 

— Saint  Nicolas,  117,  184, 

Fig.  56. 

— Cath.  Saint  Louis,  145 

note  41. 

Boisney — Ch.,  113. 

Bois-Sainte-Marie — Ch.,  162. 

Bologna — San  Francesco,  69, 
142  note  34,  151. 

• — San  Petronio,  57  note 
175- 

Bonnes — Ch.,  127  note  7. 

Boppart — Ch.,  74. 

Bordeaux,  Cath.,  114. 

— Saint  Michel,  123  note 
54- 

Boscherville  — See  Saint 
Martin-de-Boscherville. 

Bourges — Cath.,  68,  137,  142, 
153,  156,  169,  178,  Fig. 
76.  _ 

— Maison  de  Jacques 
Coeur,  93. 

— Saint  Pierre-le-Guillard, 
72  note  200,  138,  147. 


187 


INDEX 


1 88 


Bourgogne — School  of,  u, 
16,  18,  26  note  77,  31 
et  seq. 

Boxgrove — Priory  Ch.,  48. 
Bragny-en-Charollais  — Ch., 
39  note  I2i. 

Braisne — Saint  Yved,  121 
182. 

Brandenburg — Cath.,  180. 
Brantome — Ch.,  48  note  160. 
Brauveiller — Ch.,  42  note 
136. 

Breda — Groote  Kerk,  172 
note  36. 

Bremen — Cath.,  71. 

Brescia — Duorno  Vecchio, 

161  note  16. 

Breslau  — Heiligekreuze, 
hi  note  16. 

Bristol — Cath.,  101. — Berk- 
eley Chapel,  p.  95,  note 
272.  “ 

— Saint  Mary  ■ Redcliffe, 

85,  87. 

Bruges  — Cath.  Saint  Sau- 
veur,  138,  172  note  36. 
Brunembert — Ch.,  108  note 
7- 

Bruyeres — Ch.,  127  note  7. 
Burgos — Cath.,  120,  172  note 
36. 

Bury — Ch.,  52,  54,  164,  Pigs. 
22,  23. 

Caen  — Abbaye-aux-Dames, 
see  La  Trinite. 

— Abbaye  - aux  - Homines, 
see  Saint  Etienne. 

— La  Trinite,  39,  40,  43,  59, 

60,  62,  64,  65,  78,  107, 
Fig.  27.  _ 

— Saint  Etienne,  43,  59,  60, 
62,  63,  65,  66,  76,  77,  103, 
108,  135  note  25,  137, 
144,  145,  146,  Figs.  26, 
70. 

—Saint  Nicolas,  39,  129. 

— Saint  Pierre,  94,  150,  151. 
Cahors — Cath.,  5,  6 note  21, 
7 note  23. 

Cambrai — Cath.,  138. 
Cambridge — King’s  College 
chapel,  91  note  252,  92. 
— Saint  Sepulchre,  116. 
Canosa — San  Sabino,  13 
note  30,  14. 

Canterbury — Cath.,  69,  129, 
141,  169,  183. 

— Trinity  Chapel,  Vj\. 
Carcassonne  — Saint  Na- 
zaire,  17,  19,  1 57  note 

61. 

Caryatid  Supports— for  ribs, 

54- 

Casamari — Ch.,  69  note  194, 
122. 

Caudebec-enJCaux,  N.D.„ 

152. 


Cavaillon — Ch.,  36. 

Centering  — 0f  Perigord 
domes,  7. 

Cerce — 48. 

Cerisy-la-Foret — Ch.,  64 
note  180,  1 12  note  23. 

Chalons-sur-Marne  — N.D., 
I03,  177,  also  note  41. 

— Notre  Dame-de-l’Epine 
(near),  149,  Fig.  71. 

— Saint  Alpin,  147. 

Champagne — Ch.,  12  note 
29,  27  note  78,  162. 

Chapelle-sur-Crecy,  La  — 
Ch.,  152. 

Chapels — transept,  vaults  of, 

1 12. 

Chartres — Cath.,  137,  144, 

145,  159,  173,  Fig.  68. 

Chateauneuf — Ch.,  29  note 
87. 

Chatel-Montagne — Ch.,  26, 
29  note  87,  and  note  89. 

Chatillon-sur-Seine — Ch.,  36. 

Chaumont — Ch.,  104  note 
279. 

Chauvigny — N.D.,  114. 

— Saint  Pierre,  25. 

Chelles — Ch.  127  note  7. 

Chester — Cath.,  84. 

Chevets — no,  131  et  seq. 

— square,  108. 

— radiating-ribbed,  132, 
137- 

— broken-ribbed,  138. 

— buttressing-ribbed,  141. 
— diagonal-ribbed,  144. 

— with  added  ribs,  146. 

— impost  level  of  vault 
ribs,  153. 

— shape  of  cells  in,-  154. 

— with  pierced  panels,  156. 

Chichester — Cath.,  65  note 
184. 

CLrmont-Ferrand  — Cath., 

1 14,  158. 

— Notre  Dame-du-Port, 
27,  also  note  80,  106, 

115,  Fig.  49,  so. 

Clery — Ch.,  178  note  42. 

— Chapel  of  Saint  Jac- 
ques, 95,  Fig.  42. 

Cluny — Ab.  Ch.,  31,  33,  40, 
1 05. 

— N.D.,  121. 

Cologne — Cath.,  122  note  50. 
— Saint  Mary  of  the  Capi- 
tol, no. 

— Saint  Maurice,  42  note 
136,  79,  80. 

Como — Sant’  Abondio,  126, 
127  note  7. 

— San  Fedele,  161. 

Constantinople  — SS.  Ser- 
gius and  Bacchus,  117, 
128. 

Corneto-Tarquinia — Ch.,  69, 
127. 


Coutances — Cath.,  101,  119, 
172,  174,  also  note  39, 
180,  Figs.  59,  82. 

Creully — Ch.,  43,  66. 

Crossing — vaults  of,  113  et 
seq. 

— towers  over,  114  et  seq. 
— rib-vaulted,  122. 

Culhat — Ch.,  20  note  46,  22. 

Cunault — Ch.,  24,  125. 

Cyprus,  5 note  15. 

Dijon — Notre  Dame,  69 

note  191. 

— Saint  Benigne,  161. 

Dinan — Cath.s  138. 

Dol — Cath.,  122  note  53. 

Domes — on  spherical  pen- 
dentires,  1,  2. 

— on  squinches,  2,  8,  9. 

— comparison  of  Perigord 
and  Byzantine,  3. 

— exterior  roofing  of,  in 
Perigord,  5. 

— centering  of,  in  Peri- 
gord, 7. 

— gored,  9. 

— ribbed,  115. 

— lobed,  1 16. 

■ — “Gothic,”  or  Double 
Chevets,  117. 

Domont — Ch.,  78  note  217, 
184. 

Dorat,  Le — Ch.,  114,  115. 

Durham — Cath.,  69  note 
102,  75,  76,  77,  78,  85, 
99,  Fig.  33. 

Eastern  Terminations — Ex- 
ceotional,  182. 

Ely — Cath.,  84,  87. 

Eoinal — Ch.,  108  note  7. 

l’Epine — in  Notre  Dame-de- 
l’Epine. 

Erfurt — Frankiskanerkirche, 
72  note  201. 

Essen — Ch.,  26. 

Etamoes — N.D.,  144. 

1 — Saint  Gilles,  122  note 
53- 

— Saint  Martin,  127  note 
7,  176,  178,  184. 

Evreux — Cath.,  ng. 

Exeter — 'Cath..,  185;  86,  89, 
106,  Fig.  37. 

Farges — Ch.,  33  note  08. 

Ferte-Bernard — Chapelle  de 
la  Vierge,  95. 

Firouz  Abad — palace,  2. 

Florence — Baptistery,  no. 

— 'Cath.  S.  M.  del  Fiore, 
57,  ^8,  127  note  5. 

— S.  M.  Novella,  57,  58, 
122  note  50 .Passi  Chapel, 
1 17,  Fie-.  57. 

Fontenay — Ch.,  36. 


INDEX 


189 


Fontevrault — Ch.,  4 note  12, 
6 note  21. 

Fontfroide — 'Oh.,  20  note  43. 

Fontgombault — Ch.,  30  note 
9i- 

.Forest — l’Abbaye — Ch.,  129 
note  14. 

Fortunatus — 1 14. 

Fossanova — Ab.  Ch.,  .122. 

Fountains  Abbey — 37. 

Freiberg-i-Sachsen  — Cath., 
94  note  263,  104  note 
279. 

Freiburg — Cath.,  94,  150, 

181,  Figs.  72,  88. 

Frejus — Cath.,  48. 

Fulda-— Saint  Michael,  26. 

Gebweiler  Saint  Legerius, 
48. 

Gelnhausen — Saint  Marien, 
1 19  note  44. 

Gensac — Ch.,  6 note  21,  7 
note  22. 

Germigny-des-Pres — Ch.,  2, 
16  note  35. 

Gerona — Cath.;  81  note  221. 

Gloucester — Cath.,  43,  82, 

87,  99,  161. — Lady  Chap- 
el, 87. — Cloister,  91,  92, 
Fig.  40. 

Gmund — Ch.  of  Holy  Cross, 
94,  104. 

Gonesse — Ch.,  172  note  36. 

Gourdon — Ch.,  39  note  121. 

Gregory  of  Tours — 114. 

Grenoble — Saint  Laurent, 

16  note  35,  129. 

Giiben — Ch.,  181. 

Guebviller — Oh.,  42  note  136. 

Hauterive — Ch.,  36. 

Heidelberg — Old  Cath.,  180. 
— Peterskirche,  104  note 
279. 

Hereford — Cath.,  83,  89. 

Hieroskypos — Ch.,  5 note  15, 
8 note  25. 

Ile-de-France  — Transitional 
Chs.  of,  66,  67. 

Issoire — Saint  Paul,  20  note 
46,  106  note  4. 

— Saint  Austremoine,  27 
note  82. 

Ivrea — Cath.,  158,  159. 

Javarzay — Ch.,  37. 

Jedburgh — Ab.  Ch.,  105. 

Jerusalem — Saint  Anne,  40. 

Jouaignes — Chapel,  34  note 
■ 101. 

Jumieges — Ab.  Ch.,  26  note 
76,  43,  121.  — Saint 

Pierre,  26. 

Kaschau — Ch.,  182  note  50. 

Keisheim — Ch.  180  note  44. 


Kirkstall— Ab.  Ch.,  112. 

Kolin — Ch.  180. 

Laach — Ch., . 41  notes  131, 
432. 

Laffaux — Ch.,  127  note  7. 

Lagny — Ch.,  174  note  39, 
182  note  50. 

Landshut — Saint  Martin, 

104  note  279. 

Lanfranc — 59. 

Langres — Cath.,  168,  169, 

Fig.  80. 

Lantern  Towers — 114. 

— with  Eight-Part  Vaults, 
120. 

Laon — Cath.,  69  note  191, 
103,  1 12,  121,  184,  Figs. 
48,  54,  60. 

— Church  of  the  templars, 
116.  Fig.  55.  — Bishops 
Palace,  Chapel  of,  133, 
Fig.  62. 

Largny — Ch.,  132. 

Larnaca — Ch.,  5 note  15. 

Laval — La  Trinite,  48  note 

160. 

Lerins — La  Trinite,  no  note 
1 2. 

— Sajnt  Honorat,  17  note 
38,  19- 

Lescar — Cath.,  36. 

Lessay — Oh.,  43,  77. 

Lesterps — Ch.,  22. 

Lichfield — Cath.,  84,  also 
note  232,  93,  101. 

Lighting — of  tunnel-vaulted 
churches,  18. 

—in  naves  with  square 
bays,  57- 

— of  half  domed  apses, 
I24- 

Limburg — Cath.,  71,  108. 

Limoges — Saint  Martial,  27 
note  81,  29  note  87. 

Lincoln — Cath.,  65  note  184, 
69,  also  note  192;  72 
note  200,  82,  83.  84,  101, 
note  276,  Figs.  35,  36. 

Linkoping — Cath.,  104  note 
279. 

Lisseweghe — Ch.  182  note 
S°- 

Loches — Saint  Ours,  14,  15, 
S3,  Figs.  9,  10,  24. 

Loctudy — Ch.  160. 

Loire — School  of,  29  et  seq. 

Lombardy — 24. 

— School  of,  26  note  77, 
42,  44  et  seq. 

London — Tower  Chapel,  22, 
J59- 

Louis  VI — 74. 

Lubeck — Saint  Jakob,  182 
note  50. 

Ludheux — Ch.,  48  note  160, 

1 61. 

Ludinghausen  — Ch.,  182 
note  30. 


Lusignan — Ch.,  37. 

Magdeburg — Cath.,  72,  100, 
101,  172  note  36. 

— Brunnenkapellc,  157. 

Mainz — Cath.,  41  note  133. 

— Saint  Stephen,  104  note 
279. 

Malmo — Ch.,  174  note  39. 

Mans,  Le — Cath.,  47,  93,  171, 
178,  180,  182. 

— La  Couture,  48  note  160, 
49,  50,  55,  57,  I5i  note 
52,  183,  Fig.  20. 

— N.D.  du  Pre,  64  note 
180. 

Mantes — Cath.,  37,  69  note 
191,  102,  146,  161. 

.Marburg — Saint  Elizabeth, 

104,  hi  note  16. 

Marseilles — La  Major,  115 
note  37. 

Meaux — Cath.,  26  note  74. 

Mehun-sur-Yevre — Ch.,  184 
note  65. 

Melle — Saint  Pierre,  22,  24 
note  60. 

Mezieres — Ch.,  94. 

Milan — Cath.,  79,  80,  155, 

168. 

■ — Sant’  Ambrogio,  16 
note  33,  41,  44,  46,  39, 
60,  78  note  217,  Fig.  18. 

— San  Babila,  24  note  63. 

— Sant’  Eustorgio,  24  note 

63- 

— San  Nazzaro,  52  note 

169. 

Minden — Cath.,  104  note 
279. 

Moissac — Ab.  Ch.,  138. 

Molfetta — Catih.,  13  also 
note  30,  20. 

Molleges — Saint  Thomas, 

17  note  37. 

Monasterio  de  la  Oliva — 
Ch.,  127. 

Montagne — Ch.  116  note  39. 

Montierender — Ch.,  26. 

Montmajour — Ch.,  17  note 
37,  127  note  7,  160. 

Mont  Saint  Vincent— Ch., 
35  note  103. 

Morienval — Ch.,  74,  78  note 
219,  127,  152,  163,  166 
note  26,  168,  Figs.  77,  78, 
79- 

Moulins — Cath.,  138,  147. 

Nantes — Cath.,  114. 

Nantille — N.D.,  116  note  39. 

Naples — Cath.  Baptistry,  2. 

Narbonne — Cath.,  114. 

Naves — vaults  of,  1 et  seq. 

— and  aisles  of  equal 
height,  104. 

— vaulted  with  domes  on 
squinches,  8. 

— without  side  aisles,  48.  • 


INDEX 


190 


Nesle — Ch.,  72  note  200. 

Neubourg — Ch.,  152  note 
54,  178  note  42. 

Neufchatel — Ch.,  111  note 
19. 

Nevers — Cath.,  55,  Fig.  25. 

— Saint  Etienne,  18  note 
39,  29,  106,  125  note  2. 

Nimes — 17. 

— amphitheatre,  159. 

— Nymphaeum,  17. 

— temple  of  Diana,  17, 
126  note  3. 

Normandy — 59. 

— School  of,  26  note  77, 
4-2. 

Norwich — ’Cath.,  87,  184 

note  65. 

Notre  Dame-de-lfipine  — 
Ch.,  149,  150,  Fig.  71. 

Nouaille— Ch.,  22  note  58. 

Noyon — Cath.,  67,  78  note 
217,  99,  103.  no,  136 
note  28,  141,144. — Chapel 
of,  94,  Fig.  41. 

Niirnberg — Saint  Lorenz, 

178. 

Nymwegen — Ch.,  26,  180. 

Omonville-la-Rogue  — Ch., 
108  note  9. 

Oppenheim — Ch.,  182  note 
SO. 

Orange — Cath.,  37. 

Orcival— Ch.,  107,  115,  184 
note  60. 

Orleans — Saint  Euverte,  123. 

Ouistreham — Gh.,  64. 

Oxford — Oath.,  87,  93- 
— Christ  Church  staircase, 
91  note  253. 

— Proscholium,  87. 

— Schools,  86  note  236. 

Paderborn — Cath.,  104  note 
279,  in  note  16. 

Padua — Sant’  Antonio,  13 
note  30,  148,  151  note 
52; 

Palestine — 40. 

Palognieu — Ch.,  35  note  103. 

Pamplona — Cath.,  176. 

— San  Saturnino,  146. 

Paray-le-Monial — Ch.,  32, 

34,  163,  170,  Figs.  14,  IS- 

Paris— Cath.  N.D.,  68,  103, 
1 14,  122  note  50,  142,  180. 
— Sainte  Chapelle,  56,  80, 
104  note  279. 

— Saint  £tiennne-du- 
Mont,  123. 

— Saint  Eustache,  94,  180. 
— Saint  Germain-des- 
Pres.,  139,  I4I- 
— Saint  Martin-des- 
Champs,  127,  135  note 
25,  136  note  28,  138,  139, 
141,  161,  Fig.  65. 


— Saint  Severin,  150,  180. 

Parthenay-le-Vieux  — - Notre 
Dame,  20  note  46,  22. 

Pavia — Certosa,  69,  72,  100. 

— San  Lanfranco,  47. 

— San  Michele,  46,  58  note 
176,  60. 

— San  Teodoro,  57  note 
175- 

Pendants — 92. 

Pendentives — 3. 

— domes  on  splherical,  1. 

Perigord — school  of,  2,  6,  7, 
51. 

Perigueux — 2. 

— Cath.  of  Saint  Front,  3, 
4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  36  note  108, 
105,  1 14,  Figs.  1,  2. 

— Saint  Etienne,  6,  7. 

Peristeroma — Ch.,  5 note  15, 
8 note  25. 

Perpignan  — Cath.  Saint 
Jean,  148. 

Perugia — Cath.,  104  note 

279. 

Peterborough — Cath.,  89,  90, 
91,  92,  99,  Fig.  39. 

Petit  Quevilly,  Le — Ch.,  65, 

66. 

Pirna  — Hauptkirche,  150 
note  51. 

Poitiers — Cath.,  48  note  160, 
5i,  104- 

— Notre  Dame-la-Grande, 
24,  125  note  1. 

— Saint  Hilaire,  II,  12,  36 
note  105,  1 12  note  22, 
125  note  1,  Figs.  7,  8. 

— Sainte  Radegonde,  48 
note  160,  51,  57. 

Poitou — 21. 

— School  of,  16,  23  et  seq. 

Pontaubert — Ch.,  39  note 
121. 

Pontoise  — Saint  Maclou, 
168,  174. 

Pontorson — Ch.,  77. 

Prenzlau  — Marienkirche, 
104  note  279. 

Preuilly-sur-Claise  — Ch., 
162. 

Provence — School  of,  16, 
17  et  seq.,  125. 

Provins — Saint  Quiriace,  72, 
140,  1 52,  153,  Fig.  31. 

Puiseaux — Ch.,  108  note  9. 

Puy,  Le — Cath.  of  Notre 
Dame,  9,  10,  11,  12,  14, 
35,  Figs.  5,  6. 


Qucdlinburg — Saint  Wiper- 
tus  (near),  159. 
Querqueville — Ch.,  no  note 
T3-  . _ . 

Quimperle — Sainte  Croix, 

159  note  7. 


iRadiating  Chapels — Vault- 

ing of,  183. 

Ravenna — Palace  of  Theo- 
doric,  24  note  63. 

— San  Vitale,  2,  162. 

Reims — Cath.,  79,  80,  143, 
152,  153- 

— Saint  Jacques,  69,  Fig. 
29- 

— Saint  Nicaise,  182. 

— Saint  iRemi,  37,  112 

note  23,  135  note  25,  136, 
141,  143  note  36,  154,  168, 
173,  176,  177,  178,  184, 
Figs.  64,  83,  87. 

Rhenish  Provinces — School 
of,  26  note  77,  41. 

Ribe — Cath.,  71. 

Ribs — transverse,  function 
of,  99. 

— use  of  wall,  in  Gothic 
ribbed  vaulting,  136. 

— ridge,  in  Anjou,  49. 

— impost  level  in  chevet 
vaults,  153. 

Rieux-Merinville — Ch.,  160. 

Ripon — Cath.,  82. 

Rivolta-d’Adda — Ch.,  41,  44, 
58  note  176. 

Roberval — Oh.,  108  note  7. 

Rochester — Cath.,  26  note 
74,  69  note  192. 

Rolduc— Ch.,  no. 

Rome — Basilica  of  Maxen- 
tius,  36,  78  note  217. 

— Domus  Augustana,  2. 

— Lateran  Baptistry,  25. 

— Palace  of  the  Caesars, 
2. 

— Santa  Costanza,  159. 

— San  Giovanni  in  Late- 
rano,  158. 

— S.  M.  sopra  Minerva, 
138. 

— Stadium  of  Domitian, 
158,  159  note  6. 

— Temple  di  Siepe,  129. 

— Thermae  of  Caracalla, 
2. 

Ronceray — Ch.,  36. 

Rosheim — Ch.,  42  note  136. 

Rouen— Cath.,  26  note  74, 
79,  100,  143,  J7I,  174- 

— Lycee  Corneille,  in. 

— Saint  Maclou,  121. 

Rue — Chapel  of  Saint  Es- 
prit, 95. 

Rys — Ch.,  108  note  9. 

Saint  Aignan— ' Ch.,  54  note 
171. 

Saint  Astier — Ch.,  6. 

Saint  Avit-Senieur — Ch.  6, 
50. 

Saint  Barnabas — Ch.,  5 note 
15-  . 

Saint  Benoit  sur  Loire — Ch., 


INDEX 


191 


18  note  39,  22,  30,  125 
note  2,  Fig.  13. 

Saint  Bertrand-des-Com- 
minges — Ch.,  81. 

Saint  Denis — Ab.  Ch.,  66,  67, 
75,  78,  169,  174. 

Saint  Die — 42  note  136. 

Saint  Gabriel- — Oh.,  64. 

Saint  Genou — Ch.,  18  note 
39,  22,  30. 

Saint,  Germer-de-Fly  — Ch. 
43,  67,  78,  79,  101,  133, 
135,  136,  137,  138,  140, 
141,  153,  154,  168,  Fig. 

63.  — Sainte  Chapelle, 
137- 

Saint  Gilles — Ch.,  99  note 
275- 

Saint  Guilhem-du-Desert — 
Ch.,  19,  20. 

Saint  Hilaire-Saint  Florent 
— Ch.,  51. 

Saint  Jean-au-Bois  — Ch., 
108  note  7. 

Saint  Jouin-de-Marnes  — 
Ch.,  22  note  58. 

Saint  Leu  d’Esserent — Ch., 

54  note  170,  141,  170, 
Fig.  81. 

Saint  Loup-de-Naud — Ch., 
25  note  66,  40. 

Saint  Martin-de-Boscher- 
ville — Saint  Georges,  39, 

64,  108,  1 12,  also  note 
23,  121,  127,  138,  Figs. 
51-61.  — Chapter-house, 
108,  Fig.  52. 

Saint  Martin-de-Londres — 
Ch.,  17  note  37,  no  note 
12. 

Saint  Nectaire— Ch.,  27  note 
82,  106  note  4,  115- 
Saint  Nicholas-du-Port  — 
Ch.,  94,  108,  123  note  57- 
Saint  Paul-T  rois-Chateaux 
— Ch.,  20  note  44,  21 
note  49. 

Saint  Pierre-de-Redes — Ch., 
17  note  37,  127  note  7. 
Saint  Pierre-sur-Dives — Ch., 
180. 

Saint  Pons-de-Mauchiens— 
Ch.,  40. 

Saint  Quentin — Cath.,  148, 
17  4- 

Saint  Saturnin — Ch.,  27  note 
79,  106  note  4. 

Saint  Savin-sur-Gartempe— 
Ch.,  24,  125,  162. 

Saint  Vincent-des-Pres  — 
Ch.,  33  note  98. 

Saintes— Saint  Eutrope,  21, 
36  note  105,  40,  160. 
Salamanca — Old  Cath.,  51, 

55  note  173.  1 17  note  42. 
— New  Oath.,  94,  H7- 


Salisbury — Cath.,  79  101 

note  276. 

San  Galgano — Ch.,  69  note 
194. 

San  Martino — Oh.,  69  note 

194- 

Santiago-de-Compostella  — 
Ch.,  29  note  86,  55  note 
172. 

Saragossa — Cath.,  120. 

Sarvistan — palace,  2. 

Saumur — Saint  Pierre,  116 
note  39. 

Schlestadt — Ch.,  42  note  136. 

Seez — Cath.,  138. 

Segovia — Cath.,  94. 

Semur-en-Auxois  — N.  D., 
143  note  35. 

Senlis — Cath.,  67,  102,  141 
note  33,  Fig.  47. — Chapel 
of,  95,  Fig.  43. 

Sens — Cath.,  67,  98,  122  note 
50,  141,  142,  169,  171, 
Figs.  28,  45. 

Severac-le-Chateaux  — Ch., 
40. 

Sherborne — Ab.  Ch.,  90,  92. 

Silvacane — Ch.,  20,  30. 

Simiane — Chateau,  116  note 
40. 

Soest — S.  M.  zur  Wiese,  104 
note  279. 

Soissons — Cath.,  78,  79,  in, 
1 12,  122  note  50,  135 
note  25,  136  note  28,  137, 
141,  142,  143,  176,  184, 
Fig.  67. 

Solignac— -Ch.,  6 note  21,  7 
note  22,  1 14. 

Souillac — Ch.,  6 note  21,  105. 

Southwell  — Minister,  101 
note  276. 

Souvigny — Ch.,  18  note  40, 
22,  34,  93. 

Speyer — Cath.,  41  note  133, 

42,  58. 

Spoleto — San  Salvatore  or 
del  Crocifisso,  114. 

Squinches — domes  on,  2. 

Stargarde  — Marien-kirche, 
148,  180. 

— Johanniskirche,  180  note 
44- 

Stendal — S.M.,  104  note  279. 

Strassburg — Cath.,  178  note 
42. 

Tag-Eivan— 35. 

Tarascon — Saint  Gabriel,  17. 

Tewkesbury — Ab.  Ch.,  87, 
89,  150,  178  note  42,  Fig. 
38. 

Thor — Ch.,  127  note  7. 

Tivoli — Villa  Adriana,  2, 

1 1 7,  128,  129. 

Toledo — Cath.,  178. 

Torcy — Ch.,  127  note  7. 


Toro — Ch.,  1 17  note  42. 

Toul — Saint  Gengoulf,  182 
note  50. 

Toulon-sur-Arroux — Ch.,  39 
note  121. 

Toulouse  — Jacobins,  182, 
Fig.  89. 

— Saint  Nicholas,  81. 

— Saint  Sernin,  18  note  41, 
20  note  46,  28,  29,  1 12 
note  23,  125  note  2,  162. 

Tour — Ch.,  108  note  9. 

Tournai — Cath.,  no,  133, 
138,  169  note  29,  174, 
Figs.  53,  85. 

Tournus — Saint  Philibert, 
34,  36,  162. 

Tours — Saint  Martin,  29 
note  87,  1 14,  158,  183. 

Trani — S.  M.  Immacolata, 
13  note  30  and  32. 

— S.  M.  dei  Martiri(near), 
13  notes  30  and  32. 

Transepts  — Vaults  of,  105, 
et  seq. 

— semicircular  vaults  of, 
no. 

— with  tunnel  vaults,  105. 

— with  five-part  vaults, 
107. 

Treguier — Cath.,  106. 

Tremolac — Ch.,  105. 

Treptow — Ch.,  180  note  44. 

Trier — Liebfrauenkirche,  182 
note  50. 

Triforium — Origin  and  use, 
in  Auvergne,  25. 

— vaults  of,  101. 

Troyes — Cath.,  123,  143  note 
35'-. 

— Saint  Urbain,  101,  108, 
153,  Fig.  73. 

Tulle — Cath.,  83,  93. 

Upsala — Ch.,  182. 

Utrecht — Cath.,  174  note  39. 

Vaison — Cath.,  20,  30. 

Valentigny — Ch.,  108  note  7. 

Vauciennes — Ch.,1  108  note 
7- 

Vaults  and  Vaulting — tun- 
nel, 16. 

— transverse  over  nave, 
34- 

— transverse  over  aisles, 
36. 

— Romanesque  schools  of 
tunnel-vaulted  churches, 
16. 

— tunnel  with  cross  ribs, 
37- 

— apse,  X24  et  seq. 

— pyramidal,  14. 

— groined,  naves  with,  37. 

— with  Added  Ribs — Out- 
side of  England,  93. 


192 


INDEX 


— Fan  Vaulting,  89. 

— ribbed,  43. 

— of  side  aisles,  96. 

— Tracery  Vaults,  89. 

■ — Sexpartite,  58  et  seq. 
— Pseudo-sexpartite,  62. 
— Eight-part,  72. 

— with  Added  Ribs,  81. 

— Tierceron  Vaulting,  84. 
— Lierne  Vaulting,  87. 

- — Interpenetrating  multi- 
ple ribbed,  88. 

— Five-part,  100,  107. 

— of  triforia,  101. 

— of  transept,  105. 
Vauxrezis — Ch.,  127  note 
7- 

Vendeuvre — Ch.,  108  note  7. 
Venice — Cath.  San  Marco, 
13  note  30. 

— FrartF  57. 

— SS.  Giovanni  e Paolo, '57 
note  175. 

Verberie — Ch.,  108  note  7. 


Verona — Cath.,  57  note  175. 

— Santo  Stefano,  158, 
159,  160,  166  note  26. 

Vertheuil — Ch.,  161. 

Vezelay — La  Madeleine,  34, 
38,  39,  40,  43,  101,  137, 
140,  154,  Figs.  16,  17,  66. 

Viborg — Cath.,  71. 

Vicenza — SS.  Felice  e For- 
tunato,  24  note  63,  47. 

Vieil-Arcy — Ch.,  127  note  8. 

Vieux  Mareuil — Ch.,  105. 

Vigan — Ch.,  182. 

Vignory — Ch.,  26,  152,  159. 

Villemagne  — Saint  Gre- 
goire,  64  note  180. 

Villeneuve-le-Comte  — Ch., 
182  note  50. 

Vizeu — Cath.,  93. 

Voulton — Oh.,  74  note  203. 

Voute-par-tranches — 4. 


Wells — Cath.,  89. 


Wesel  — Saint  Willibrord, 
178. 

Westminster — Ab.  Ch.,  79, 
83,  147. — I slip’s  Chapel, 
92. — Henry  VII’s  Chap- 
el, 92. 

William  of  Sens — 69. 

Wimpfen — Stadkirche,  94. 

Winchester — Cath.,  87,  88, 
104  note  279,  1 12  note 

23.. 

— Saint  Cross,  108. 

Windsor — Saint  George’s 

Chapel,  89. 

Worcester — Cath.,  65  note 
184,  83,  84,  101. 

Worms — Cath.,  119,  127 

note  5,  Fig.  58. 

— Liebfrauen  kirche,  180 
note  44. 

Xanten — Ch.,  182  note  50. 

Ypres — Saint  Martin,  151. 

Zamora — Cath.,  116,  117 

note  42. 


